- Author: Claire B.
The California 4-H Mindfulness Retreat
by Claire B., Santa Rosa Valley 4-H
The California 4-H offers a Mindfulness Retreat each year in Cambria at Camp Ocean Pines. The goal of the retreat for members to develop their health and learn strategies to practice mindfulness.
This three-day retreat had us identify stressors with other 4-H youth in California. It is amazing to see how stressed we were and the commonalities among us all.
We participated in a variety of activities to reduce stress and learn mindfulness. We practiced mindful eating, creative outlets of using photographic paper with items from nature to make natural art, made bracelets and in the evening, and an astronomer helped us see another galaxy, which was one of my favorite activities.
My other favorite was doing yoga on the porch which overlooked a nature preserve and the sea. 
The Mindfulness Retreat allows for bonding and making a lot of 4-H friends throughout California. It helps our leadership so that we can be a better advocate of healthy living in our community. Some apps that are useful for Mindfulness are Headspace, Calm, and Dreambox.
This retreat motivated me to attend Mindful Minutes in Delaware via Zoom while we were under quarantine. Mindful minutes is based on the GEM Curriculum (Getting Experience in Mindfulness). Participants had the option to become a Trainer of Trainers and I attended this multi-day Zoom training to better my practice. During our Covid-19 quarantine and throughout the changes in our state, mindfulness can help you.
Mindfulness is important so that you reduce stress and anxiety and it can also help in your leadership and in the workplace. If you have an opportunity to participate in mindful practice, you will see the benefits which will lead to clearer thinking, greater loyalty, larger service and better living.
- Author: Valerie Zeko
2019 Ventura County Fair
Junior Showmanship
Congrats, 4-H'ers!
Division 953 - Jr - 4-H Novice Showmanship
Class 5 Market Goat
Curren Thompson 1
Somis Kaylee Tan 2 Simi Valley
Emma Johnston 3 Camarillo
Madison Walter 4 Taft
Kassie Hatcher 5 Taft
Grace Cobb 6 Somis
Francisco Zamora Jr. 7 Santa Paula
Sammy Belik 8 Simi Valley
Payton Holliday 9 Moorpark
Tyler Nowak 10 Somis
Class 6 - Market Lamb
Jayleen Arballo 1 Santa Paula
Joann Christensen 2 Santa Paula
Clarissa Barrera 3 Fillmore
Lexi Freehauf 4 Santa Paula A
dler Striegel 5 Ventura
Rafe Pidduck 6 Ventura
Samuel Knight 7 Camarillo
Peter Daly 8 Santa Paula
Laird Pidduck 9 Ventura
Class 7 - Market Steer
Juan F. Jimenez 1 Somis
Hailey Rotondo 2 Ventura
Nathan Kearney 3 Oxnard
Class 8 - Market Swine
Matthew Zavala 1 Fillmore
Alani McKeen 2 Fillmore
Miguel Rincon 3 Fillmore
Jessika Aguilar 4 Fillmore
Sarah Cedillos 5 Fillmore
Angel Gonzalez 6 Somis
Ciera Cervantes 7 Fillmore
Olivia Nava 8 Fillmore
Division 954 -Jr - 4-H Junior Showmanship
Class 2 - Dairy Goat
Belle Duong 1 Valley Center
Samanatha Wolf 2 Simi Valley
Madeline Lockmann 3 Agoura Hills
Class 3 - Breeding Sheep
Breonna Alvarez 1 Santa Paula
Class 4 - Breeding Swine
Anahi Arballo 1 Santa Paula
Class 5 - Market Goat
Brett Bowman 1 Camarillo
Skyler Knight 2 Ventura
Courtney Nunes 3 Camarillo
Curren Thompson 4 Somis
Elle Anger 5 Somis
Madison Geisler 6 Somis
Mckenzie Waters 7 Moorpark
Julia May 8 Moorpark
Annalise Barragan 9 Fillmore
Antoinette Rios 10 Camarillo
Class 6 - Market Lamb
Jayleen Arballo 1 Santa Paula
Breonna Alvarez 2 Santa Paula
Scarlett James 3 Somis
Lainah Hill 4 Camarillo
Grace Hoolmaa 5 Somis
Clara Knight 6 Camarillo
Chloe Casas 7 Santa Paula
Diana Zizumbo 8 Santa Paula
Therese Hattrup 9 Fillmore
Preslee Jenkins 10 Santa Paula
Class 7 - Market Steer
Kasen Lynch 1 Somis
Billie Yanez 2 Somis
Rocco Dantona 3 Simi Valley
Sally R McCormick 4 Camarillo
Ralph Theising 5 Simi Valley
Juan F. Jimenez 6 Somis
Dean West 7 Ventura
Isabella Jimenez 8 Ojai
Allie May Scheu 9 Moorpark
Class 8 - Market Swine
Raeleen Pillado 1 Piru
Matthew Zavala 2 Fillmore
Adrian Vazquez 3 Fillmore
Leea Martinez 4 Santa Paula
Skylar Rutherford 5 Ojai
Kayla Cervantez 6 Fillmore
Carissa Cervantes Carrillo 7 Camarillo
Bodie Mays 8 Camarillo
Class 9 - Wether Dam doe
Ethan Lopez 1 Santa Paula
Division 955 - Jr - 4-H Senior Showmanship
Class 1 - Breeding Heifer
Kaitlyn Prado 1 Santa Paula
Jessica Jimenez 2 Ojai
Class 2 - Dairy Goat
Belle Duong 1 Valley Center
Anna Sorensen 2 Simi Valley
Class 3 - Breeding Sheep
Kaitlyn Prado 1 Santa Paula
Class 4 - Breeding Swine
Travis Smith 1 Thousand Oaks
Anna Enos 2 Camarillo
Class 5 - Market Goat
Brooke Allen 1 Fillmore
Brett Bowman 2 Camarillo
Julia Cook 3 Simi Valley
Michael Olvera 4 Fillmore
Class 6 - Market Lamb
Sam Hoyt 1 Oak View
Kaitlyn Prado 2 Santa Paula
Iliana Marquez 3 Santa Paula T
yler Hook 4 Somis
Robert Hebert 5 Simi Valley
Zane Marklein 6 Ventura
Katie Hendren 7 Santa Paula
Rachel A Byrne 8 Simi Valley
Class 7 - Market Steer
Travis Smith 1 Thousand Oaks
Jadyn Pinneo 2 Moorpark
Astrid D'alton 3 Ventura
Parker Lynch 4 Somis
Kasen Lynch 5 Somis
Chance Bowman 6 Ojai
Leanna Kearney 7 Oxnard
Adrienne Kearney 8 Oxnard
Class 8 - Market Swine
Raeleen Pillado 1 Piru
Phillip Cervantez 2 Fillmore
Ashley Payne 3 Ventura
Adam Zavala 4 Fillmore
Charlotte Peters 5 Ojai
Julissa Montes 6 Fillmore
Cayden T. Ewing 7 Ventura
Devin Cullinane 8 Camarillo
Class 9 - Wether Dam Doe
Brooke Allen 1 Fillmore
- Author: Valerie Zeko
2019 Junior Market Show
Ventura County Fair
Congrats to our 4-H'ers!
Division 933: Jr. 4-H Market Steer
Class 1 Market Steer 1000-1400 lbs.
Isabella Jimenez 1 Ojai
Juan F. Jimenez 2 Somis
Pablo Ponce 3 Oak View
Class 2 Market Steer 1000-1400 lbs.
Travis Smith 1 Thousand Oaks
Parker Lynch 2 Somis
Sally R McCormick 3 Camarillo
Payton Henuber 4 Ventura
Class 3 Market Steer 1000-1400 lbs.
Leanna Kearney 1 Oxnard
Billie Yanez 2 Somis
Phillip Theising 3 Simi Valley
Nathan Kearney 4 Oxnard
Class 4 Market Steer 1000-1400 lbs.
Adrienne Kearney 1 Oxnard
Jessica Jimenez 2 Ojai
Kasen Lynch 3 Somis
Dean West 4 Ventura
Ruby Ponce 5 Oak View
Allie May Scheu 6 Moorpark
Class 5 Market Steer 1000-1400 lbs.
Astrid D'alton 1 Ventura
Hailey Rotondo 2 Ventura
Chance Bowman 3 Ojai
Jadyn Pinneo 4 Moorpark
Division 936 - Jr - 4-H Miniature Market Steer
Class 1 - Miniature Market Steer - 600-999 lbs.
Laura Lynch 1 Somis
Elizabeth Westerling 2 Somis
Class 2 - Miniature Market Steer - 600-999 lbs.
Rocco Dantona 1 Simi Valley
Alex Theising 2 Simi Valley
Ralph Theising 3 Simi Valley
Division 939 - Jr - 4-H Market Swine
Class 1 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Miguel Rincon 1 Fillmore
Austin Weisse 2 Camarillo
Mason Arias 3 Piru
Logan Fogata 4 Santa Paula
Julissa Montes 5 Fillmore
Kennadee Jenkins 6 Santa Paula
Noah Burr 7 Santa Rosa Valley
Marley Loza 8 Santa Paula
Freeman Hicks 9 Santa Paula
Class 2 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Raeleen Pillado 1 Piru
Sadie Cerda 2 Piru
Julia Santos 3 Camarillo
Lea Villagomez 4 Piru
Brooke Nunez 5 Fillmore
Brenley Minkel 6 Ojai
Lily Kohlbeck 7 Camarillo
Class 3 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Adam Zavala 1 Fillmore
Angel Gonzalez 2 Somis
David Lennox 3 Moorpark
Nathan Espinoza 4 Santa Paula
Cole Everett 5 Santa Paula
Anthony Cuevas 6 Santa Paula
Roxy Loza 7 Santa Paula
Mariah Herron 8 Santa Paula
Class 4 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Emily Sanchez 1 Santa Paula
Evan Cabacungan 2 Santa Paula
Mercedes Pewsey 3 Moorpark
Mark Cortez 4 Santa Paula
Joseph Hernandez 5 Santa Paula
J Dallin Jenkins 6 Santa Paula
Bryce Ponticelli 7 Ventura
Kaiena Cardenas 8 Santa Paula
Anna Enos 9 Camarillo
Ciera Cervantes 10 Fillmore
Class 5 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Carmen Chavez 1 Santa Paula
Lindsay Lindemer 2 Fillmore
TOBI WELCH 3 Santa Paula
Alyna Gutierrez 4 Santa Paula
Logan Sylvester 5 Santa Paula
Jessica Davison 6 Santa Paula
Matthew Barrios 7 Santa Paula
Cole Whitehead 8 Santa Paula
Roberto Lopez 9 Santa Paula
Class 6 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Jarred Sonstegard 1 Moorpark
Rodney Hodges 2 Piru
Carleton Westerling 3 Somis
Haidyn Thrasher 4 Santa Paula
Paige Tucker 5 Ojai
Allison Reiman 6 Camarillo
Logan Davison 7 Santa Paula
Jameson Moya 8 Ojai
Kylie Weisse 9 Camarillo
Analisa Espinosa 10 Ventura
Graciano López 11 Piru
Class 7 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Madilyn Nester 1 Fillmore
Jazmine Zavala 2 Fillmore
Emily Santos 3 Camarillo
Bodie Mays 4 Camarillo
Analiz Arroyo 5 Santa Paula
Shelby Wright 6 Ventura
Rocio Magana 7 Santa Paula
Tyler Hilmer-Wiggins 8 Oak View
Karys Everett 9 Santa Paula
Alex Gonzalez 10 Santa Paula
Class 8 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Carissa Cervantes Carrillo 1 Camarillo
Emilie Brookshire 2 Ventura
Aliza Estrella 3 Fillmore
Skylar Rutherford 4 Ojai
Luis JImenez 5 Santa Paula
Cadynce Tschetter 6 Somis
Benjamin Kohlbeck 7 Camarillo
Izabel Magana 8 Santa Paula
Mia Barrios 9 Santa Paula
Elijah Hodges 10 Piru
Paige Sigsworth 11 Oak View
Class 9 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs
Phillip Cervantez 1 Fillmore
Tori Gonzales 2 Fillmore
Sydney Beckett 3 Fillmore
Rook Johnson 4 Santa Paula
Justin Cortez 5 Santa Paula
Brianna Nichols 6 Ojai
Sydney Grecian 7 Santa Rosa Valley
Athena Sanchez 8 Fillmore
Emily Brockus 9 Santa Paula
Amayah Salazar 10 Santa Paula
Ariana Ocegueda 11 Fillmore
Amelia Tucker 12 Ojai
Zoey Moore 13 Oak View
Class 9 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs
Amber Sage 1 Ojai
Oliver Braget 2 Ojai
Samuel Gomez 3 Santa Paula
Jennah Karlsen 4 Ojai
Amparo López 5 Piru
Kamryn Escalante 6 Oxnard
Anyssa Hernandez 7 Santa Paula
Danielle Salazar 8 Santa Paula
Emily Wright 9 Ventura
Class 11 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs
Leea Martinez 1 Santa Paula
Gabriella Bingham 2 Fillmore
James Santos 3 Camarillo
Riyanna De La Rosa 4 Oxnard
Matthew Zavala 5 Fillmore
Meya Garcia 6 Fillmore
Rocky Manzano 7 Santa Paula
Sarah Cedillos 8 Fillmore
Ryan Alamillo 9 Santa Paula
Class 12 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Jessika Aguilar 1 Fillmore
Isabella Vaca 2 Fillmore
Kayla Cervantez 3 Fillmore
Kaden Good 4 Oak View
Ethan Sigsworth 5 Oak View
Olivia Nava 6 Fillmore
Frankie Cardenas 7 Santa Paula
Sofia Manzano 8 Santa Paula
Juan Carlos Magana Jr 9 Santa Paula
Luis Robles 10 Santa Paula
Class 13 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Ashley Payne 1 Ventura
Amelia Cervantez 2 Fillmore
Shaeli Salazar 3 Oak View
Zachariah Garcia 4 Fillmore
Kody Weisse 5 Camarillo
Nuviah Vega 6 Fillmore
Andrew Cuevas 7 Santa Paula
Sabino Duarte 8 Santa Paula
Shaney Todd 9 Ojai
Parker Hickman 10 Ventura
Class 14 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Devin Cullinane 1 Camarillo
Frankie Laird Sigala 2 Santa Paula
Christian Diaz 3 Fillmore
Alina Garcia 4 Piru
Allison Reiman 5 Camarillo
Elysia Cortez 6 Santa Paula
Grace Bracamontes 7 Fillmore
Anessa Espinosa 8 Ventura
Robert Alamillo 9 Santa Paula
Class 15 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Anahi Arballo 1 Santa Paula
Alani McKeen 2 Fillmore
Aliyah R Golson 3 Fillmore
Hailee Quintanilla 4 Fillmore
Ian Burr 5 Santa Rosa Valley
Della Alamillo 6 Fillmore
Hannah Ignacio 7 Ojai
Grace Nichol 8 Santa Rosa Valley
Aliana Espinosa 9 Ventura
Chris Mijares 10 Santa Paula
Priya Torres 11 Moorpark
Class 16 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Joaquin Ramirez 1 Santa Paula
Jade Barretto 2 Ventura
Jacob Montes 3 Fillmore
Malone Fogata 4 Santa Paula
Priya Torres 5 Moorpark
Aryanne Munoz 6 Fillmore
Braeden Callahan 7 Ojai
Nathaniel Ocegueda 8 Fillmore
Wyatt Maxwell 9 Oak View
Adam Villa 10 Fillmore
Class 17 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Carsyn Tschetter 1 Somis
Jersey Jones 2 Fillmore
Kaitlin Jowers 3 Santa Paula
Charlotte Peters 4 Ojai
Carolynn Peters 5 Ojai
Cayden T. Ewing 6 Ventura
Joseph Rosas 7 Fillmore
Timothy Pillado 8 Piru
Class 18 - Market Swine - 215-285 lbs.
Isabella Westrich 1 Ventura
William Enos 2 Camarillo
David Montes II 3 Fillmore
Jeremy Stout 4 Ojai
Kenneth Herron 5 Santa Paula
Carson Bell 6 Santa Paula
Shyla Garcia 7 Fillmore
Jocelyn Escalante 8 Oxnard
Madison Whitehead 9 Santa Paula
Victoria Galvan 10 Fillmore
Sabrina Westrich 1 Ventura
Victoria Hernandez 2 Santa Paula
Ryleigh Corbett 3 Ventura
Gavin Arana 4 Santa Paula
Nicholas Maulhardt 5 Oxnard
Division 943 - Jr - 4-H Market Lamb
Class 1 - Market Lamb 114-119
Maeve Hoolmaa 1 Somis
Preslee Jenkins 2 Santa Paula
Zane Marklein 3 Ventura
Rafe Pidduck 4 Ventura
Aaron Hendren 5 Santa Paula
Annabelle Obringer 6 Simi Valley
Class 2 - Market Lamb 125-130
Scarlett James 1 Somis
Joann Christensen 2 Santa Paula
Diana Zizumbo 3 Santa Paula
Morgan Curry 4 Oxnard
Grace Byrne 5 Simi Valley
Kieran McCormick 6 Camarillo
Peter Daly 7 Santa Paula
Laird Pidduck 8 Ventura
Samuel Knight 9 Camarillo
Macyn Obringer 10 Simi Valley
Class 3 - Market Lamb 131-137
Tyler Hook 1 Somis
Iliana Marquez 2 Santa Paula
Kaitlyn Prado 3 Santa Paula
Grace Hoolmaa 4 Somis
Lexi Freehauf 5 Santa Paula
Lainah Hill 6 Camarillo
Adler Striegel 7 Ventura
Katie Hendren 8 Santa Paula
Chloe Casas 9 Santa Paula
Class 4 - Market Lamb 141-147
Sam Hoyt 1 Oak View
Breonna Alvarez 2 Santa Paula
Emma Flores 3 Ventura
Meghan Daly 4 Santa Paula
Rachel A Byrne 5 Simi Valley
Therese Hattrup 6 Fillmore
Class 5 - Market Lamb 152-154
Jayleen Arballo 1 Santa Paula
Clara Knight 2 Camarillo
Robert Hebert 3 Simi Valley
Clarissa Barrera 4 Fillmore
Division 946 - Jr - 4-H Market Goat
Class 1 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Madison Geisler 1 Somis
Samantha Ellrott 2 Moorpark
Joshua Olvera 3 Fillmore
Kassie Hatcher 4 Taft
Andy Torres 5 Ventura
Fabianna Sandoval 6 Santa Paula
Aaron Lopez 7 Santa Paula
Class 2 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Julia May 1 Moorpark
LaylaMcLemore 2 Santa Paula
Tyler Nowak 3 Somis
Elle Anger 4 Somis
Madison Walter 5
Taft Ian Nunez 6 Fillmore
Class 3 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Brett Bowman 1 Camarillo
Curren Thompson 2 Somis
Robin Fernandez 3 Santa Paula
Emma Johnston 4 Camarillo
Evan Peck 5 Santa Paula
Roman Sandoval 6 Santa Paula
Jase Anger 7 Somis
Class 4 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Grace Cobb 1 Somis
Brooke Allen 2 Fillmore
Annalise Barragan 3 Fillmore
Antoinette Rios 4 Camarillo
Michael Olvera 5 Fillmore
Class 5 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Julia Cook 1 Simi Valley
Kaylee Tan 2 Simi Valley
Francisco Zamora Jr. 3 Santa Paula
Ava Waters 4 Moorpark
Jack Nelson 5 Santa Paula
Jazmin Valdovinos 6 Santa Paula
Class 6 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Skyler Knight 1 Ventura
Sammy Belik 2 Simi Valley
Emme R Granados 3 Simi Valley
Courtney Nunes 4 Camarillo
Ethan Lopez 5 Santa Paula
Class 7 - Market Goat - 65-110 lbs. lbs
Mckenzie Waters 1 Moorpark
Payton Holliday 2 Moorpark
Sierra Gray 3 Moorpark
Taylor Trembly 4 Carpinteria
Olivia Lennox 5 Moorpark
- Author: Rachel Lipscomb
- Author: Ashley Pyler
On Saturday, 01/25/2020, we attended Dr. Mike's Speech Event at the Ventura County Fairgrounds in the Clark Livestock Center. It was hosted by the Ventura County 4-H Animal Science. We were event staff, so we helped to run the event and set up as well as clean up. In addition to Ventura County 4-H'ers, other youth organizations had members present including: Future Farmers of America (FFA), Grange, Independents, and others. There were nearly 150 people who attended the event. There were 65 prizes given out.
After giving out a few prizes, Ventura County 4-H Ambassador Shelby Wright gave a speech about how to write letters and talk to potential buyers for market animals at fair. In her speech, she included her experience showing market animals. Shelby has been showing them for almost 6 years now.
Then, Dr. Mike talked about how he likes to help 4-H youth raise their market animals for fair and about the veterinary practice he owns in Somis, California. After his speech, more prizes were given away. Then his technician talked about vet check policies, livestock bio-security, routes of infection, disinfectants, physical exams, common medical abbreviations, medication withdrawal times, and a bit about fair requirements for the 2020 Ventura County Fair. Most of the fair requirements were given by Mrs. Virginia H. Reyes, Ventura County 4-H Animal Sciences Key Leader and Briggs 4-H Club Leader. After everyone's speeches, the last of the prizes were given away.
The event was super informational about how to care for your livestock properly. It taught you all of the important information about disease control. The information you learn at the event can potentially save your animal's life. You can also learn how to better compete at the fair. What we enjoyed about the event most was how you can see how passionate everyone is about 4-H and the fair. Everybody's speeches were great. All of the event participants learned a lot of new information and immensely enjoyed their experience. The event was amazing, and we advise everyone to go next year!
- Author: Anna S.
SLC 2019 was a blast. This was my first-time attending State Leadership Conference in Davis, and I will definitely go back next year. We arrived in Sacramento and headed to UC Davis where we checked into our dorm and spent the evening at an awesome pool party. Lights out was 11:00 p.m., and the next day started off with a bang. We had various tours we could pick from, and I attended the State Capitol tour in the morning and the Horse Barn in the evening. The night ended with an ice cream Social, keynote speaker, and the trinket trade. The keynote speaker for the weekend was Chris Temple, Co–Founder of "Living on One". Mr. Temple talked about his film and how we can create change in the world, one life at a time.
Saturday was filled with workshops. I attended Youth Voice in Action and I led the “Conflict and Resolution Worldwide” workshop for the University of California ANR. We danced the night away at a black light party led by DJ High Top. Sunday morning, we participated in games and said our goodbyes, and we packed our stuff in the afternoon and attended the closing ceremony. The closing ceremony involved Diamond Clover and Golden Clover recipients as well as the latest news update on SLC. That evening, we flew back to Ventura County. I made many new friends, and I met many great people from all over California, Texas, and even Canada. I will never forget this SLC experience, and I can't wait to make even more memories next year.
