Rural Youth 



lAA 

 CONVENTION 



> — .* 



RURAL Youth aggressively brought 

 their inspiration and verve to the an- 

 nual meeting, furnishing the color and 

 life for Wednesday's sessions and attract- 

 ing hundreds of grown-ups who ap- 

 plauded speeches, enjoyed entertainment 

 features, and secretly thrilled at the view 

 of tomorrow's leadership. 



Whether the high spot was the talk- 

 fest, or the afternoon session, or the 

 glorious entertainment session of the 

 evening will probably always be a moot 

 question, depending upon the personal 

 reaction of participant or observer, but 

 on the serious side, the impact of per- 

 sonality and ideas, given vigorous ex- 

 pression by Youth speakers in the talk- 

 fest and conference, furnished the prom- 

 ise of strong and constructive leadership 

 for Farm Bureau in the years to come. 



From the time that chairman Lester 

 Sterchi, Richland county, called the talk- 

 festers into session in the Bal Tabarin, 

 and Ellsworth D. Lyon, lAA director 

 of young people's activities, gave the par- 

 ticipants their "ringside instructions,'' un- 

 til the final election of the 1945 state 

 committee, the young men and women 

 were in the saddle and "riding them" 

 hard, straight, and enthusiastically. 



Eighteen talkfesters — 17 winners 

 from the districts and one alternate who 

 not only was called on to fill in, but 

 who won an honorable mention, staged 

 a program before a Bal Tabarin audience 

 that over- ran capacity. It was the opinion 

 of those who have , followed many of 

 these annual affairs that thiis was the 

 best on record. There was straightfor- 

 ward communicative speaking, sound and 

 original thought on problems of farm 

 and home life, humor, self-possession and 

 effectiveness in every talk. When it was 

 all over and the corps of auditors had 

 compiled the scores from the ballots of 



38 



Jewell Emmerich, lasper county, demon- 

 strates platform manner to iellow state 

 talkies! winners. Max H. Kuster, Macon; 

 Louis Hoerr, Tazewell; Gloria J. Hayden. 



participants and adult helpers, the follow- 

 ing were named Topnotchers of 1944; 

 Richard Linden, Bureau county; Max 

 Kuster, Macon ; Gloria Hayden, Pulaski- 

 Alexander; Kenneth Lanter, St. Clair; 

 Jewell Emmerich, Jasper; Louis Hoerr, 

 Tazewell. Honorable mentions were 

 awarded to Clyde Boyd, Randolph coun- 

 ty, the alternate who furnished the Cin- 

 derella motif for the contest, and to Wil- 

 lis R. Ehnle, Peoria county. Linden, who 

 received the highest total vote, shading 

 Max Kuster by a matter of 16 points 

 in the aggregate, was chosen to represent 

 Illinois in an interstate talkfest spon- 

 sored by the AFBF for its annual meet- 

 ing in December. Miss Hayden and Miss 

 Emmerich broke the famine on girl top- 

 notchers, being the first girls to break 

 into the charmed circle since 1943. 



Others who took part in the talkfest 

 were Virginia Benton, Richland; Wil- 

 liam C. Young, Jr., Henry; Feme Ken- 

 nedy, Livingston; Raymond Kelm, Mar- 

 shall-Putnam; Freida Sowers, Schuyler; 

 Kay Little, Morgan; Clifford Heaton, Bu- 

 reau; Joe Brankey, Kane; Clifford Briggs, 

 Edwards; and Ross Gates, Macoupin. 

 They had all won their way to the state 

 contest by winning topnotch ratings in 

 district contests held during October and 

 November. 



With Margaret Sharp of Woodford 

 county presiding, the afternoon confer- 

 ence opened with group singing led by 

 Bill Thomas of Whiteside county and an 

 address of welcome by Field Secretary 

 George E. Metzger. Then Rural Youth- 

 ers William Eastman, Woodford; Ray 

 High, Christian; Maxine Roosevelt, Ed- 

 wards ; and Mary Luft, Tazewell, set 

 forth the views of young people on a 

 variety of subjects. The program in- 

 cluded also an address by Mrs. Raymond 

 Hanley, 4-H club chairman of the Illinois 

 Home Bureau Federation, and the an- 

 nouncement of the talkfest winners, 

 greeted with cheers and enthusiasm by 

 the crowd of youth and adults. 



"Act the way you want to be and 



Pulaski-Alexander; Kenneth Lanter, St. 

 Clair; Richard Linden, Bureau; and honor- 

 able mention contestants, Willis R. Ehnle, 

 Peoria, and Clyde Boyd, Randolph. 



you'll be the way you act," said Bill East- 

 man in a discussion of "Understanding 

 Oneself and Others." At the same time, 

 he cautioned his hearers not to try to be 

 other than their natural selves, not to 

 "change your own abilities or go against 

 your pattern." 



Ray High, speaking on "Rural Youth 

 as a Personality Developer," said that en- 

 gaging in youth activities builds confi- 

 dence and thus aids personality growth. 

 He advised youth not to copy others but 

 to build their own characteristics. Per- 

 sonality can grow, he stressed, and those 

 without strong personality may either be 

 unimportant or develop into the upper 

 groups, as they choose. 



Streamlined methods in the designing 

 and construction of homes are coming 

 after the war, Maxine Roosevelt said 

 in her talk on "Homes of the Future." 

 Entire walls will be made of glass pan- 

 els, which can be kept closed in chilling 

 weather or rolled aside, thus making the 

 room part of the garden, she predicted. 

 Improved heating, lighting and other 

 services are all part of the picture as she 

 described it. 



Schools of the future will have five 

 main aims, Mary Luft declared in her 

 speech, "The Ultimate Aims of Rural 

 Education." They are first, the oppor- 

 tunity to acquire mental and physical 

 skills by actual practice in various arts 

 and sciences ; second, health building and 

 muscular development; third, personality 

 development; fourth, social adjustment; 

 and fifth, citizenship preparation. 



Mrs. Hanley, the former Mildred Mies, 

 stressed homemaking as a profession and 

 the Illinois Home Bureau Federation as 

 the professional organization of Illinois 

 homemakers in her address. "In this era 

 of high wages, hasty marriages, juvenile 

 delinquency, broken homes, and return- 

 ing service men, it is especially impor- 

 tant that we build a strong America 

 through our homes," she concluded. 



Franklin Allen, Tazewell county, was 

 master of ceremonies for the annual Ru- 



I. A. A. RECORD 



