BY KARISSA MILLER

Like many teens, Quincy Sherrill has had to work hard to stay connected to the people who are important to her during the past two years.

Staying active in her 4-H Club has helped her weather the COVID-19 storm.

Sherrill, a rising sophomore at Crossroads Arts & Science Early College, spoke publicly about her experiences with 4-H during a recent Iredell County Board of Commissioners meeting.

“Do you think it is possible to be so connected that you’re actually disconnected?” Sherrill asked. “I know I do.”

“This is the situation our world finds itself in right now. We’ve never been so connected technologically even more disconnected from each physically and emotionally. This is not an ideal situation for any age group,” she said.

“As a teenager,” Sherrill continued, “I know firsthand how hard it is to navigate life when there is an overarching feeling of disengagement from others. A sense of belonging in something people in society generally look for.”

That’s why she’s glad to be a part of 4-H, whose members strive to be “full contributors to their community and to make a commitment to the 4 Hs.”

The 4Hs are: Head, Heart, Hands and Health.

“The 4-H pledge is: I pledge my Head to clearer thinking, my Heart to greater loyalty, my Hands to larger service, and my Health to better living, for my club, my community, my country and
my world,” Sherrill said.

When you think about those words in the context of our connected but disconnected world, Sherrill explained, they take on a bigger meaning. Through the words’ I pledge my head to clearer thinking, “members, pledge to shift their focus on discernment of the truth,” she said.

Head, heart and hands are a pledge to put others before themselves, Sherrill explained. Health is the only part of the pledge that examines the individual before others, she added.

“With the focus on service to others, 4-H members realize their health to be the best version of themselves to others,” she said.

Sherrill said her experiences in 4-H have been beneficial to her self-confidence.

“It’s really helped me to put myself out there more and trust myself in public speaking,” she said.

Sherrill won gold in her age category during a speaking competition. She has also served as vice president of her 4-H Club.

She will be representing Iredell County 4-H as the youth representative to Youth Voice 2022, which is held in conjunction with the North Carolina Association of County Commissioners’ Conference in August.