All week long on SusanvilleStuff, in celebration of National 4-H Week, we will be featuring this year’s six inductees into the Lassen County 4-H Hall of Fame.
by Lily Ammon and Maddi Johnson
Lassen 4-H Ambassadors
Some words that resonate throughout these Hall of Fame nominations this year are dedication, influence, and supportive.
Key things to any role model our youth should engage with. Dawn Ratkey embodied all of these qualities in the fifteen years she spent serving local youth as a 4-H Leader. She led the swine, cooking, outdoor adventure, sheep, and leadership projects. She was also the Community Club Leader of Thompson Peak 4-H and an All Star (Ambassador) Advisor.
If you’ve ever seen the cute, animated animal cut outs at the Lassen County Fair – you can thank this amazing lady and a group of 4-H’ers that she mentored.
In 2016 Dawn served as the Lassen County All Star/Ambassador Advisor. This project was done in coordination with the Federal Bureau of Prisons Herlong inmates, as they provided the artwork for this project and our county display inside the State Capital building.
Dawn accompanied her own daughters and several other teen youths to conferences across the State of California to help encourage leadership involvement in the program. She is another gem that continued to volunteer after her own children had aged out.
According to Dawn Lassen County 4-H is an amazing program and she has not been to many places where 4-H has such a strong influence. We tend to agree!
Her favorite memory of being involved in the 4-H program was watching the growth and development in kids. The most important reason she believes kids should be involved is the fundamental life lessons that are available to youth and the level of community involvement that is available.
Welcome to the 4-H Hall of Fame Mrs. Ratkey. Thank you for service to our 4-H program.
Photographs provided by Dawn Ratkey
