<p>Date Media contact: agent’s name, phone, email</p><p>Carteret County 4-H’ers receive top honors at State 4-H Congress </p><p>Three Carteret County 4-H’ers were among those honored State 4-H Congress, held in Raleigh June 22- 25. State 4-H Congress attracted 521 youth and their adult leaders for activities including presentations on a variety of subjects, leadership and citizenship training, service opportunities, officer elections and more.</p><p>This year’s 4-H Congress was moved from its traditional late July time slot and combined with another 4- H event, Citizenship Focus where 4-H’ers engage with their elected leaders in the N.C. General Ass embly. </p><p>Sydney Giammona, 17, daughter of Mary Brenner of Maysville, was inducted into the 4-H Honor Club, o ne of the highest honors a 4-H’er can achieve. New Honor Club members were tapped during a candlelig ht ceremony Saturday night, June 22. </p><p>Membership in the Honor Club is based on service to the 4-H program, leadership, moral standards, 4-H activities and project achievement. Less than one-half of 1 percent of North Carolina 4-H’ers are selecte d for membership each year. Members must be at least 16 years old and have a minimum of three years 4-H experience.</p><p>Giammona is a senior at West Carteret High School and a member of the At Large 4-H Club. She has been active in the 4-H program for six years. </p><p>Two 4-H’ers won gold medals in presentation contests designed to test 4-H’ers’ knowledge of a variety of subjects. </p><p>Lauren DeLuzio, 10, daughter of Michael and Anita DeLuzio of Newport, won the 9- and 10-year-old age division of the small and companion animals competition, sponsored by the N.C. 4-H Development Fund. Her presentation was titled “Number One Dog in America: Labrador Retriever.” </p><p>Emily Fontenoy, 18, daughter of Paul and Juliane Fontenoy of Beaufort, won the 14- to 18-year-old division of the fisheries and aquatic resources competition, sponsored by Duke Energy. </p><p>The 4-H program is the youth education program of North Carolina Cooperative Extension, based at Nor th Carolina State and North Carolina A&T State universities. More than 237,500 young people between t he ages of 5 and 19 participate in North Carolina 4-H activities each year with the help of 20,780 adult a nd youth volunteers. </p><p>-- Written by Suzanne Stanard, 919.513.3126 or [email protected] --</p>