Berry College twin students recently represented Georgia 4-H at the state capital and were awarded multiple 4-H honors.
Juliette and Nicholas McKinley are freshmen creative technology majors from Smyrna, Georgia, and have both been involved with Georgia 4-H from a young age. Georgia 4-H is one of the nation’s largest youth leadership development organization. And Georgia is one of the largest state programs in the country with more than 240,000 active 4-H’ers. Students compete in public speaking events, livestock competitions and much more.
“Georgia 4-H has played a huge role in who I am today. It has taught me how to be a great leader as well as how to lead others,” Juliette said.
Both twins attended Georgia 4-H Day in Atlanta, where they served as pages and represented their county. While in attendance, they met Gov. Brian Kemp.
They were also recognized as being part of the 2021-2022 Leadership Team, where Juliette was a State Leadership in Action winner and Nicholas earned the State Dean's Award for STEM.
These are both high achieving awards that require portfolio work and interviews in order to proceed to the state level. Since Juliette and Nicholas have both won at the state level in Georgia 4-H competitions, they are considered “Master 4-Hers”, which is the highest honor in 4-H.
The highest honor awarded in Georgia 4-H is National Conference, which is a competition between Georgia 4-H’ers that involves a portfolio and interview session. Only six delegates are chosen to represent Georgia in Washington, D.C. each year.
In 2020, Juliette and Nicholas were both named National Conference winners; however, the event was canceled due to COVID-19. The twins were able to participate in a virtual conference in 2021. National Conference attendees meet with U.S. representatives and senators and present to a house or senate committee.
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Written by Public Relations Student Assistant Jaden Childree
Office of Public Relations
