4-H Senior Scholarships

Bayfield County 4-H Scholarship

Fillable Application & Requirements

The Bayfield County 4-H Leaders Association annually awards two $500 scholarships to graduating 4-H seniors. Letters and emails are sent out to families every January and applications are due March 1st.

Requirements for eligibility are as follows:

  1. Must have been a Bayfield County 4-H member (minimum of three years) at the time of high school graduation.
  2. Must have plans to register for post high school courses. (Funds will not be given until recipient provides proof of enrollment in courses.)
  3. Must submit the application, essay, and activities list to the Bayfield County 4-H Youth Development staff by March 1st of each year. Applications received after this time will not be considered.
  4. Must have two letters of reference to be returned separately to the Bayfield County 4-H Youth Development staff. (One reference must be a current 4-H leader. The other reference may be any unrelated adult – teacher, minister, etc.) The references should include any comments the adults care to make, the date, and signature of the reference giver. References should arrive to the 4-H office no later than March 1st.

Wisconsin 4H Foundation Scholarships

A number of scholarships are available from the WI 4-H Foundation. Applications are due March 1st.  Please see https://wis4hfoundation.org/scholarships/ for more information.

Congratulations to our 2023 4-H Senior Scholarship Recipients!

Brielle Mesik

Brielle is the president of the Pine Creek 4-H Club & Bayfield County 4-H Market Sale and has served as a county 4-H Ambassador since 2018. In the fall she will be attending UW River Falls and studying veterinary science. She hopes to go on to become a large animal vetrinarian.

“How I Have Grown Through 4-H”

When I first started 4-H in second grade, I didn’t know what I was getting myself or my parents into. I was in the lno Valley 4-H club and Glory Bizub was my club leader. While I was at the very first meeting, I remember watching those older kids leading the meeting and talking about all the things we were going to do throughout the year; while they were talking, I remember thinking to myself, “How do I get to be one of them people up at the front table?” Eventually throughout that year we ventured out to the Cultural Arts Festival at the Drummond School. I entered a few things and the judges had looked at them and gave me tips, I remember talking to my mom and wishing I wanted to do it again and bring tons more! little did I know I would be entering hundreds of things at the Bayfield County Fair! The person in 4-H member in Bayfield County I admired most was McKenzie Tuura, she was always winning trophies and ribbons whether it was at the Cultural Arts Festival or Bayfield County Fair, you would hear her name everywhere. She was always willing to help the younger kids and would strive to get them to get involved and push them to be as involved as she was. I always wanted to be like Mackenzie, so I have tried my best throughout my 4-H years.

A few years later my mom took on the responsibilities of taking over a club and being a co-leader with Amanda Tutor. Since then, my parents have helped me get involved in Bayfield County. I took on many projects, many hours of community service hours, went to countless events, and held many positions. For the past 4 years I have been our club president and the Bayfield County Market Sale President for the past 3 years. I hope the kids in our 4-H club look up to me the way I did with McKenzie.

My Favorite Project In 4-H is Beef/Market Sale. My second year in 4-H my dad helped me get involved in beef, I remember being so nervous around my first heifer calf, Frosty. She was bigger than me and I was not too sure about this whole beef thing, little did I know I would be so involved and going to pursue my career in agriculture because of that heifer. Since that year, I have been able to push myself and get myself involved in many beef related things. I have been able to go to many cattle shows across Wisconsin and Minnesota and was even able to make it to Junior Simmental Nationals! I was able to make many new friends and create memories with them.

4-H has overall help me come a long way and create many new bonds. It has given me the opportunity to come a long way from being that little girl that no one knew to people recognizing me from radio ads to newspaper articles, to Facebook posts and I cannot be more grateful. It has helped me become that older kid and getting to sit at that table in front of the whole 4-H group and many other kids. I have become more outgoing, involved, and significantly broadened my interests and skills. As 4-H members were making the world a better place for both communities and the environment. I have learned that in 4-H that one person can really make a difference, and I am planning to continue my involvement.

Brinley Tonn

Brinley is a member of the Whispering Pines 4-H Club and has been a teen leader for the county’s horse project for several years, working with younger youth and their horses prior and during the fair. In the fall Brinley will be attending UW Stout and will be studying Environmental Science.

How I Have Grown Through 4-H

When I was little, my mother introduced me to Cloverbuds, where I was able to make crafts and play with other children. After my first year as a Cloverbud, I became a member of Washington County 4-H. My first few years of 4-H seemed to be like just hanging out with my friends, and giving my opinion when they asked me to. Once I grew a little older, I started taking on the minor officer roles, and helping to organize and plan events. In fourth grade I moved up north, and we switched 4-H clubs to Bayfield County. Here, I was able to take on more intense leadership roles, and participate even more. Through 4-H I have learned about becoming an important part of my community, leadership qualities, and living to serve others.

I have shown horses for 10 years. I have spent countless hours preparing and performing for my project horses. I have been grateful to have met and learned from so many knowledgeable role models whether it be leaders or older 4-H youth members. I have shown at State level as well.

4-H has also taught me to volunteer in my community. Throughout 4-H I participated in highway clean up, attending elderly events, helping run horse shows and volunteering time in food concessions. I now volunteer my time at Security State Banks Holiday Toy Drive and help give toys to all the low-income families that are in need. Additionally, I also volunteer for Northwestern’s Middle School Volleyball as a coach for their season. I enjoy forming positive relationships with them as well as elevating their skills. I firmly believe that if I didn’t gain the skills I did when I was younger, I wouldn’t have such a drive to volunteer now.

I have really enjoyed more recently helping youth at the pre-fair show and fair. I have helped explain how to do showmanship, doing mini sessions typically the evening before the fair show, while emphasizing safety with horses. They are large powerful animals and we always have to think ahead about what is safe and what isn’t. I realize years ago I was little and I learned all of these safety procedures from being in 4-H, they aren’t just rules to be rules. They are rules to keep us safe. Throughout my involvement through 4-H and FFA I have grown a love and passion for agriculture. I have decided to continue pursuing my agricultural and biology education by attending University of Wisconsin-Stout while majoring in Environmental Science next year.

After graduating with a Bachelor’s degree, I plan on becoming an Environmentalist or an Agricultural Scientist, where I can continue to study and help improve the environment.

Now that I am graduating high school, and I’m approaching my last year of 4-H membership, it leaves me feeling very bittersweet. 4-H has been there for me my entire life, and I wouldn’t be the person I am today without it. I plan on staying engaged and supportive of 4-H, as well as one day hopefully enrolling my kids into the club.

Paige Tuura

Paige has been an active member of the Gitche Gumee 4-H club since she was old enough to be a Cloverbud and has served as one of our county 4-H Ambassadors since 2018. She has been a part of the 4-H rabbit project for the past 8 years, and at the fair you will probably find her in the rabbit barn with her pet rabbit Bucky where she enjoys educating younger members about rabbits. Paige will be studying phlebotomy at Lake Superior College this fall.

“How I have grown through 4-H”

Asking me now how I have grown through 4-H is a different answer you would have gotten if you asked me when I first started as a little kid. When I was a little kid 4-H was an experience for me to learn new things, such as sewing, cooking and doing all sorts of new projects. It was so many new experiences for me. The Bayfield County Fair was very exciting for me as a young child. Making all my Fair entries was very exciting, and I loved looking at everyone else’s entries during the fair, seeing all the awards and different things other kids would make. But my favorite of all time was to look at the animals. I absolutely loved the animals as a small kid during the fair. My favorite was the rabbits. When I got a little bit older I was able to convince my parents to get me a rabbit from one of the other 4-H members during the fair. That changed my experience for 4-H.

Right now I am really big in the rabbit section of 4-H. I take much pride in my rabbit Bucky. Bucky is placed under a pet rabbit and he is well-trained. I like to take Bucky out at the fair for display. He is so well trained he can do several tricks and he loves attention. Having him out to let little kids pet him is fun for everyone. He loves the attention and it’s a lot better than kids sticking their hands in rabbit cages of rabbits that don’t want to be pet. This last year I decided to take some animal hair dye and dye my rabbits ears tail and paws blue. The little kids love that! And whenever there’s little kids petting Bucky I will tell them informational facts about rabbits. With doing this I am educating kids on rabbits, and there was a kid that joined 4-H this last year just so they could have a rabbit at the fair like me.

Now that I’m older I realized 4-H was not just something for little kids to have fun with, it’s much more than just that. I realized to me 4-H means responsibility, organization, and leadership. It taught me all those things while making it very fun when I was a child and I know that for matter of fact if I was not in 4-H I would not be the person I am today. I believe that 4-H is important for the world because it helps empower new leaders for the world. 4-H to helped ill’.: learn and express myself in many different ways. 4-H is very important to me and means a lot. I really appreciate this organization.

Support Extension