2020 Friend of 4-H: Jill Stechschulte
Jill Stechschulte was the Fulton County 4-H Youth Development Extension Agent/Educator from 1995 to 2017. She grew the program to 1200 youth in the early 2000s and was a mentor and role model for many youth who came through her program. She built strong relationships with the 4-H advisors, became lifelong friends with a subset, recruited, and supported over 200 volunteers annually to support the program. Jill was also a 4-H parent of Rusty and Kelly who were 10/11 year members in the Fulton County 4-H program.
Jill’s truest passion was camp and consistently brought 250+ people to Fulton County 4-H Camp each year, being one of the biggest returning annual camps at 4-H Camp Palmer. Jill served many years on the 4-H Camp Palmer Board of Trustees Executive Committee. She advocated for donating time, energy, or money to 4-H Camp Palmer. Jill was involved in the planning and fundraising for the Woodland Lodge, Rob’s Cabin, and the new in-ground pool. Jill constantly encouraged local organizations to participate in community service by cleaning up leaves, painting, installing new playground equipment, or re-roofing buildings at 4-H Camp Palmer.
Jill was also heavily involved with Fulton County Junior Fair each year. The Junior Fair consists of >95% 4-H youth and she and the OSU Extension Office would serve as points of contact for Junior Fair throughout the year. Jill’s capstone 4-H accomplishment was being awarded the Charles W. Lifer Award in 2016, the top honor a 4-H professional can obtain in his or her career in the state of Ohio.