By Leah Sander
InkFreeNews

WARSAW — Brittany Duncan of Silver Lake is not only the third runner-up in this year’s Miss Kosciusko County pageant; she’s also a proud 10-year 4-H member.

The recent Warsaw Community High School graduate and Silver Lake Rambling Farmers 4-H Club member took some time out from helping with the Fun with the Queen and Court event on Tuesday, July 13, to chat with InkFreeNews about her time in 4-H.

She started 4-H in part because her family was involved.

Her favorite projects included showing rabbits for 10 years and competing in the miscellaneous craft project.

“Just because of the freedom. You can really do anything you want that doesn’t fall into other categories, so I definitely had fun with that one,” she said of the latter.

“It’s definitely helped me get out of my comfort zone, so just being able to reach my goals, and not being scared of talking to people or getting myself out there,” she said of how 4-H has helped her personally.

She said being in Kosciusko County 4-H Junior Leaders especially helped her. “It allows you to have a lot of connections,” she said.

The club encourages leadership development in 4-H youth. Duncan has served as president, vice president and secretary of the group.

She noted being in 4-H does take up a lot of one’s time.

“You devote a lot of time towards your projects and animals, so trying to balance that with my busy life with everything else I do, it’s definitely been difficult,” she said.

Still, she recommends kids to be in 4-H.

“I think other kids should be in 4-H just because it allows for connections to be made. It allows you to have fun really. … And a lot of my friendships I have now is because of 4-H,” she said.

Duncan also was involved with FFA at WCHS, serving for a time as vice president. She is going to Purdue University to study biology, then switch to animal science with a pre-vet concentration. Being in 4-H influenced her future career, she said.

“I would say a little bit, yeah. It’s definitely got me connected to animals and the animal side of it. And also it allowed me to talk to a lot of vets in places because there’s a lot of vets on staff that have animals here, so I made connections with those people as well,” she said.

Kids At The Fair

The Fun with the Queen and Court event that Duncan helped with was just one of the activities on Tuesday for Kiddies Day.

That event allowed kids to make crafts, play cornhole and listen to a “Pete the Cat” story. Kids also could enjoy a free breakfast and hunt for coins in sandboxes.