We Are Stoked to Serve You! NC Cooperative Extension, Stokes County

Stokes 4-Her wins State 4-H Trophy

A Stokes County 4-Her has won one of only three 4-H trophies given out in North Carolina each year. Malachi Evans was selected by 4-H state officials as the 2023 winner of the Citizenship & Community Service 4-H Trophy. He was presented with this trophy on Monday, July 24, 2023 at NC State University in Raleigh.

“I felt happy and also surprised when I heard in June that I had won it,” Malachi said. “I like doing community service because I like to help people. I didn’t expect to win a trophy for it.”

The three 4-H Trophy winners attended a donor banquet to receive their prestigious awards. They were called onstage and congratulated by Dr. Mike Yoder, Associate Director of NC Extension and State Program Leader for 4-H, and Dr. Claudette Smith, Associate Administrator of NC A&T Extension Administration. The 4-H Trophy in Agriculture went to a Caldwell County 4-Her, and the 4-H Trophy in Family & Consumer Sciences was awarded to a Pitt County 4-Her.

Malachi’s mother Leslie Bray Brewer and his stepdad Alan Brewer were on hand to see him receive the trophy. His mother noted: “The trophy Malachi won is the one that means the most to me because of how much I believe in volunteerism and being an active, serving citizen in the community. Plus, that particular trophy was established in 2004 which is the very year Malachi was born!” His stepdad added a humorous note, “The trophy was so big we had to strap it into a seatbelt on the way home!”

Each year, the recipients of these three trophies are allowed to keep them for one year. After that, the trophies must be returned to Raleigh so that the next year's recipients’ names can be engraved on the back of the trophies beneath the names of the 2023 winners. However, each winner also receives a small engraved plaque to keep permanently. The annual 4-H trophies are not awards that 4-Hers can apply for or compete for. 4-H state officials choose the winner from all 4-Hers in the state who did highly commendable work in those three categories.

At the donor banquet, Malachi was also recognized for his 2022 work in the 4-H portfolio competition. A portfolio extensively documents three years of work in a particular subject area. After Malachi’s Citizenship & Community Service portfolio advanced from the County level to the District level where it won the gold medal, it then was also awarded the State-level gold medal. His Expressive Arts portfolio, which had won gold at District, was awarded the silver medal at State. Before he went onstage to receive his 4-H Trophy at the banquet, Malachi was asked to stand and be applauded when all of the 4-H portfolio winners were recognized. For his portfolio work, he will receive a total of $350 for both the District and State awards. The banquet was also a time to recognize the many donors who ensure that the 4-Hers are honored for their work. Although the actual donor for Malachi’s trophy preferred to remain anonymous, Malachi and his parents were seated at a banquet table with a donor who gives generously each year to reward 4-Hers for community service.

Malachi is the 19-year-old son of Keith Evans of Walnut Cove and Alan and Leslie Bray Brewer of Danbury. He is the grandson of Thomas and Judy Bray of Walnut Cove, Ralph and Hilda Evans of Winston-Salem and Byrd and Carolyn Brewer of Lawsonville. Malachi is the treasurer of the School Skippers 4-H Club in Stokes County and will age out of 4-H after this year.

For more information about Stokes County 4-H, please call Stokes County Cooperative Extension at (336) 593-8179.