Special to the WJH
Greyson Christmas, a home-schooled senior and Georgia 4-H state board officer, told the Waycross Exchange Club that 4-H did not hand him one defining moment — it handed him a direction.
Christmas spoke at the club’s weekly meeting, tracing a path which began on a shooting range in the fourth grade and led to state and national leadership roles.
What started as something he enjoyed, Christmas said, became a lesson in patience, discipline, focus, and failure.
“Not every shot is going to be perfect,” he told the club, “and sometimes you have to take a breath, reset, and try again.”
Those habits followed him into 4-H.
Public speaking did not come naturally. District Project Achievement (DPA) put him in front of a room with people listening and judging. Preparation and repetition made it less intimidating, and those early speeches, he said, prepared him for opportunities he could not have imagined at the time.
Agriculture opened another door. Poultry judging, cotton boll and consumer judging taught him Georgia agriculture is not only what shows up in a field.
“There is knowledge, science, technology and skill behind the products that make up Georgia’s agricultural industry,” he said.
One Georgia, the 4-H agricultural tour and urban-rural exchange, made that concrete. Members traveled the state, walked operations, and met people working in the industry. Christmas said the program showed him agriculture as science, research, technology, business, and careers, not simply crops and livestock.
That link led him to serve as a Georgia 4-H State Science and Engineering Ambassador from his sophomore year through his senior year. Leadership is not always standing in front of a crowd and giving orders he told the club.
Sometimes it is getting people excited, sharing what you know, and encouraging someone else to try an interest of their own.
Shooting remained central. The fourth grade start eventually made him a National 4-H Shooting Sports Ambassador, representing an activity and an organization which had shaped him. Leadership, he said, can happen on a range: helping a beginner, encouraging someone after a hard match, or simply being someone others can look up to.
Those experiences led to his election this year as a Georgia 4-H state board representative, which he called one of the greatest honors of his 4-H career. Looking back at the fourth grader who first picked up a gun, Christmas said that boy could not have pictured judging teams, classrooms, a statewide agricultural tour, or ambassador roles. He kept saying yes.
“Sometimes growth happens when you step into something that makes you uncomfortable,” Christmas said. “Sometimes it happens when you don’t win. Sometimes it happens when you meet someone who changes your perspective. And sometimes it happens when you simply decide to give something a try.”
Now a senior and state board officer, Christmas said he is more confident and more at ease speaking in front of people, and more aware of the value of serving others.
He thanked coaches, volunteers, leaders, teachers, friends, and family, and he closed by thanking the range where it started, the DPA stage where he found his voice, the judging teams, One Georgia, and the ambassador posts.
“Because 4-H didn’t just give me experiences,” Christmas said, “it gave me a direction. It gave me confidence. It gave me people to learn from and people to lead. And most importantly, it gave me something worth aiming for.”
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