Logansport family: 4-H community key to finding growth
Jul. 16—Nicole Stotler remembers her son, Jacob, being so shy he wouldn't talk to people.
And then he got involved in 4-H and met Jessica Kranz.
"He was very shy," she said. "He started out in mini 4-H and got the opportunity to show pigs. I saw him get out there where most people would be shy—I know I wouldn't be able to do it—but he got out there and owned the ring and fell in love with it. It brought him out of his shell where he would start talking to people where he wouldn't before."
Jacob Stotler, soon to be a seventh grader at Logansport Junior High, has had a fun and successful week at the Cass County Fair, earning a reserve champion ribbon for a farm scene he built. He was also honored with the 2023 Cass County 4-H Fair 2023 Herdsman award.
Farm scenes are diorama's created using toys and model parts to create a farm layout complete with barns, fields and livestock.
This is Stotler's sixth year in 4-H. He said working with Kranz got him out of his comfort zone and helped him overcome his shyness.
"She's been the best," he said. "She's all excited and if you are sad about something she'll make sure you are ok and ready to go."
Encouraging others to talk is kind of what Kranz has a knack for doing. A Logansport High School teacher, she coaches the school's speech team and helped guide the students to fifth place in the class AA team competition and 10th overall at the state finals.
Nicole Stotler said Kranz goes above and beyond with monthly 4-H meetings for the kids and gets them involved in the community.
"We've cleaned up the fairgrounds," she said. "We've donated Christmas gifts to kids. She takes them bowling, to miniature golf, batting cages. They get the business done but they get the chance to have fun and get the chance to know each other inside their group. You couldn't ask for a better leader."
"I'm really happy that Jacob has enjoyed 4-H so much and has started to really develop his passions and see his worth through engaging in activities and events that matter to him," Kranz said. "It's one more testimony to the power of 4-H and how it can help kids find new loves and hobbies. For so many of us, it is a lifestyle: constantly striving to live the 4-H motto of making the best better. Kids like Jacob and so many others in our club are what keep the traditions of 4-H growing."
But part of what Nicole Stotler loves about 4-H is the community that comes together to support the young people involved. Community means more than one person and for Jacob Stotler, his community includes Josh Cunningham, a 4-H sponsor, and Elizabeth Thomas, a 4-H goat board member.
Stotler said that Cunningham had taught her son so much about goats.
"He cares about these kids," she said. "He's involved. He makes sure the kids are comfortable, knowledgeable. If they don't know something they can ask him anything. He's got a huge heart and he cares about the kids, 4-H, the animals. He's a wonderful man."
She said that Thomas had worked hard to get the goat show together and the event ran beautifully.
"She puts her heart and soul into all of it," she said. "The kids enjoy helping her. She has a really big heart and wants to see the best for all of them."
Jacob Stotler said everyone had been great to work with.
Among the important lessons he has learned from being a part of 4-H is responsibility.
"You have to make sure you turn your projects in on time and you have to take care of your animals and make sure they have food and water," he said.
His mother said he will wake at 6:30 a.m. to care for his animals. He currently has two goats and chickens.
"That's something that probably would not have happened before without being involved in 4-H," she said. "It's a good community of people. It's something that I don't want to go away. I worry people will forget to get their kids involved in it and it's just a great community of people."
