Dylan Byrum wins the Barbara Wilson-Mupu 4-H Scholarship

Santa Paula native Dylan Byrum won the Barbara Wilson-Mupu 4-H Scholarship.  Dylan has been a member of Mupu 4-H for 9 years.  He graduated from Ventura High School and is attending Ventura College.  He is interested in Aerospace Engineering.  He was the Mupu 4-H Club  Vice President and is currently the club Secretary.  Dylan has raised 9 pigs for the Ventura County Fair.

Winning essay 

4-H and Me

I first joined Mupu 4-H after my ninth birthday in 2006. My cousins had insisted I come along with them to one of the meetings and, somehow, convinced me to raise a pig with them. At the time I wasn’t entirely sure what I was getting into, but I thought it would be exciting just like that first meeting had been. When I bought my pig and had it delivered to the pens, it only made me realize exactly how much fun it would be. As the years went by I devoted more of my time to Mupu 4-H by becoming a member of the board and helping out others involved in the Pig Project, in any way I could. My experience taught me many valuable lessons like; how to be a leader, learning the value responsibilities and overcoming problems that are presented to me.

As a nine year old there was a deficiency of available volunteer positions I could apply for. I had my choice of becoming a part of the phone committee or being in-charge of the flag salute. I chose the former, hoping that it would instill an attitude of confidence in me and convince me to run for a board position when I was old enough. Calling people every second Sunday of the month to remind them there was a meeting lost its charm rather quickly, yet it was a responsibility I was required to attend to and didn’t really mind doing. We disbanded the Phone Committee halfway through the year and I went about being a regular member of the club. Though my position was gone I knew I wanted to further involve myself in the inner-workings of our Club’s government. When I was old enough I decided I would run for Vice President with a lot of convincing from my friends. I didn’t have high expectations to say the least. When I was brought back into the room after the vote I was rather shocked to find that I had won with a healthy majority of the vote. Sitting in front of everyone at the first meeting of the year was exciting. I was finally helping run a meeting. I was a leader, as much of a leader as a thirteen year old boy could be anyway. I was Vice-President two years in a row, before losing the election. I wasn’t too upset because a friend of mine had won, and wanted to put the position in his college applications along with all of his other 4-H activities. That year I ended up replacing the Secretary who had to resign. I was excited to be on the board again, and in a position I had never tried out. I quickly learned I loved the position, and all of the duties that came with it, and ran for it the next year. I won with no competition which I was thankful for. The positions I was in during my 4-H career taught me many valuable lessons and helped me to become a better person.