Wendy Guss, a former volunteer with the Camp Ranch 4-H Club, was one of 13 volunteers across the state to receive the Frank Graham 4-H Volunteer Leadership Award from the Missouri 4-H Foundation. 

Guss was a volunteer with the Camp Ranch 4-H Club, the oldest in Warren County, for 17 years. She started volunteering when her three daughters, Madeline, Anna and Leah, were in the club and remained heavily involved for years after, serving as a club leader and a project leader while sitting on the Warren County 4-H Council and the Warren County MU Extension Council. 

“I really don’t think she ever said no,” said Maureen Michel, Warren County 4-H program associate with the MU Extension. “She was always willing to do whatever she needed to do.”

Guss also chose to serve on the extension and 4-H councils because she saw the need as older members were finishing their tenure. 

“It’s my turn, I can do this. Let me give my time to help further the cause,” said Guss. 

She said she was not involved with 4-H in her youth, but when her oldest daughter Madeline was old enough to join the program she gave it a try, and never looked back. 

“There’s so much that 4-H offers, and if you’re willing to put in the time and energy I think your kids would get back a lot of education and learning experiences through their project work,” said Guss. 

They showed steers and rabbits throughout their 4-H years and Guss thought the experience for her daughters was invaluable. 

Even after her daughters were finished with 4-H, she saw the value that its programs had in children’s lives and wanted to continue. 

“There’s just so much to glean from 4-H, it’s so much about character building and leadership qualities,” said Guss. “You kind of have to give them little nudges, to help break them out of their comfort zone, but I think that it really gives them a great stepping stone for later.”

While Guss has stepped away from her time as a club leader, Michel lauded her efforts and said she was always one of the strongest leaders in the program. 

“She would make sure that everything that we were doing, her club did it really well,” said Michel. “(She) implemented it really well within her club, so they were always super successful and very involved.”

This is the second year in a row a Warren County volunteer has been recognized with the prestigious award. Jessica Jordan received the award last year. Michel said having a volunteer in the county receive the award for two years in a row really spoke to how robust 4-H programs are in Warren County.  

On top of her duties as a club leader and council member, Guss served as a project leader for a number of projects throughout her time as a volunteer. Michel said she was always willing to shoulder the extra responsibility running projects like bread making and cake decorating. 

Guss said some of her favorite experiences volunteering included organizing a trip to visit another 4-H club in North Carolina in 2019. 

The club was able to tour around the state and learn what the 4-H program looked like for them. 

“We kind of saw how they lived, and what their 4-H looked like,” said Guss. “I thought that was  a great opportunity for the kids, just to broaden their world.”

Guss also started a tradition for 4-Hers in Warren County in 2020, when clubs were unable to meet during the COVID-19 pandemic. Due to pandemic restrictions, clubs were unable to meet for year-end awards, which Guss saw as a loss, especially to the graduating seniors. 

She organized with several other parents to make signs for the graduating seniors, loaded them up and drove around the county surprising the students and recognizing them for their time in 4-H. 

Guss wanted to be clear none of her work would have been possible without the help of her co-club leader at Camp Ranch, Angie Duncan, who now serves as the club’s leader. 

As a part of the Frank Graham Award, Guss received a cash prize of $100 to direct towards a 4-H initiative in the county. She, along with Michel, decided to put the money towards “STEM to-go bags” to be distributed for free at the Warrenton branch of the Scenic Regional Library. 

The kits include building blocks and instructions for several different kits so kids can learn with their hands and be introduced to some engineering and agriculture-related concepts. 

“I just think of those little kids that visit the library, and how fun that would be to take something home, to work on at home,” said Guss. “And then just learn from that, and then maybe it would be a way to bring 4-H into their house and for them to understand, ‘hey maybe I can do this in 4-H when I’m old enough.’ ”