The Texas 4-H Council, which included DeWitt County’s J.R. Bishop, chose the theme of “Electrify” for this year’s Texas 4-H Roundup, held June 2-5 in Bryan-College Station.
“They wanted 4-H'er’s across the state to electrify their 4-H journey, their story, their passion, their experience... the list goes on,” Texas 4-H Youth Development Program Director Dr. Montza Williams said.
Seven members of the DeWitt County 4-H participated in the roundup, accompanied by DeWitt County Extension Agents Denice Goebel and Candace Williamson.
Texas 4-H Roundup welcomed around 2,000 senior level, or high-school-aged, youth to compete in approximately 50 diverse competitions, educational workshops, career learning opportunities, networking and more throughout the week. The contests included both qualifying events, where 4-H members qualified at their county and district contests to compete at the state level, and invitational events. Additionally, the Texas 4-H Youth Development Foundation awarded around $2.7 million in scholarships to 228 youth.
These DeWitt 4-H members achieved the following at this year’s Roundup:
J.R. Bishop, Texas 4-H Council member, assisted with all contests throughout the week.
Gunnar Frank, Texas 4-H Ambassador Health Summit participant.
Ella Jander, Ellie Noel, Andrew Hahn, and Ty Fehner, Texas 4-H Landscape Challenge, 1st Place team.
Jackie Finney, Percy Torrez, Wyatt Luddeke, and Sawyer Parker, who took 1st Place Team and many other honors in the 4-H Livestock Judging Contest and will be heading to Louisville, Kentucky in November.
Jana Justiss, who placed 4th in the Beef Educational Presentation Contest out of 17 individuals.
Lastly, we had two 4-H Scholarship recipients, J.R. Bishop received the $20,000 HLS&R Scholarship and Kassidy Cowey received a $5,000 Murdoch Ranch Supply Scholarship.
“We are super proud of these youth for representing DeWitt County so well!” Goebel said.
4-H is America’s largest youth development organization, empowering nearly six million young people with the skills to lead for a lifetime. 4-H is a community of young people across America who are learning leadership, citizenship, and life skills. The mission of Texas 4-H is to provide meaningful opportunities for all youth to have fun, learn, explore, and discover. While participating in 4-H, young people make new friends, develop new skills, become leaders, and form positive attitudes helping them to be capable, responsible, and compassionate members of society. Texas 4-H, as part of the Texas A&M AgriLife Extension Service, also stands to, through the application of science-based knowledge, create high-quality, relevant continuing education that encourages lasting and effective change.
The 2026 event is planned for June 1-4, 2026, in Bryan-College Station.
