Pages - AHS Region 2

Come join the fun!Judy HeathSpring is here, and the daylily season isupon us. During the winter months ouryouth are so busy with homework and extracurricular activities, that daylilies seema million thoughts away. Well, now is thetime to spring forward and make plans tojoin us at the AHS National Convention inCincinnati this summer. You will have the“time of your life.” Mrs. Betty Roberts isour AHS Youth Chairman. Betty alwayshas a great program that involves all theyouth attending the National Convention.Plan on great friends, fun, and food!“COME!” Last summer was awesome! ExcitingNews!Region Two Youth NewsEach year the Daylily Enthusiasts of Southern Indiana (DESI)are busy shaking the bushes looking for Daylily Youth to get involvedin our club’s youth program.In 2004, DESI invited the Exploring Youth (kindergarten-secondgrade) children to a workshop about “How Daylilies and Youth areAlike.” That meeting was held at Lakeside Daylilies and each of the25 children in attendance received a daylily plant donated byLakeside. In turn, these children showed their daylilies at theVanderburgh County Fair. Three DESI exhibition judges judgedtheir plants.Great News!In December, we applied for a grant from the Toyota Motor Manufacturing,Indiana, Inc. to develop, enrich, and expand last year’sprogram. Can you believe it? DESI received a $1000 grant. We haveplans rolling out of our ears. In fact, some predict that the 2005enrollment will be about 200 children.The goal of this project is to provide education about dayliliesand to encourage the youth to become good citizens and enrichour environment.This year’s project will have the following hands-on workshops: April: Daylilies and Children are Alike workshop June: DESI Daylily Goes to The Fair workshop October: Putting The Daylilies to Bed workshopAt the first meeting the children will, again, be given a daylilyplant. These will be shown at the County Fair, and the youth memberswill also be able to display their projects at the DESI DaylilyShow on June 18, 2005. The youth will have the option of showinga daylily bloom on a scape, the entire plant repotted in a gallon pot,or a poster labeling all the parts of a daylily. The latter two optionswill be on the educational table at the show. Future exhibits willinclude a seedling the youth members have hybridized. The ExploringYouth will also be planting a display garden at the fairgrounds.As you can tell DESI is very busy working with their youthprojects, and we are very grateful to the Toyota Motor Manufacturing,Indiana, Inc. for their gracious grant.I would love for other Region 2 clubs to let me know about youthprojects in their organization. Youth and Youth leaders, please sendme news, projects, and pictures. Send to: Judy Heath(wekyhe@msn.com). See you this summer!Region 2 Youth Update!Tanner Gray doesn’t let the grass grow under his feet! He is avery busy young man. Tanner coauthored a book for a nationalwriting contest at his school. The book, Danny’s Mother’s DaySurprise, was honored at the SINE Literacy Celebration. HenryWinkler, The Fonz, was the guest speaker at that event. Tanner isalso on the math academic team, geography team, student council,and he writes for the Otwell Elementary school newspaper. Well,there goes my job! Now, that Tanner’s Grandpa has a new greenhouse,I am sure he will be busy withdaylilies this summer.Kaylee Gray is also a lot of help inthe daylily gardens during the summer.In fact, I think she is the chief deadheaderfor her dad and Grandpa Roger.Kaylee has been busy with dance competitionsthis winter. She dances withthe Elite Mini Dancers at Stacy’s Studio.Her group qualified for the Nationalsin Louisville, Kentucky the lastweek of February. Good Luck Kaylee!!!Shannon and Johnny Hayes are alsovery busy with school activities. Shannonis finishing the eighth grade andenjoying the dances and school functions.However, she is anxiously awaitinghigh school next year. I am sure sheis a super student!Johnny is conditioning for the PikeCentral high school track team. He hasbeen throwing discus and shot for 5years. He has accumulated several firstplace ribbons at area meets. Do youthink scattering mulch and pullingweeds would classify as conditioning?Jared and Justin Beard have beenvery busy with their music. These energeticbrothers both participated in theRegional Music Competition held at theUniversity of Evansville. Jared’s drumsolo had a perfect score. Justin andJared both participated in a percussionensemble and received a Gold ranking.Both of the boys will compete duringFebruary in Indianapolis, Indiana.Way to go guys!By Judy HeathTanner GrayImage: Judy HeathKaylee GrayImage: Judy HeathLast, but not least, Jared has been chosen to representTecumseh High School on the WFIE TV14 game show, BackAt’Cha. The program will be taped March 6. WFIE will alsoattend the next basketball game to film Jared for the show. Well,maybe their music is the reason Grandma and Grandpa William’sdaylilies grow so big!Page 8 Spring-Summer 2005AHS Region 2/Great Lakes Newsletter