Sheldon finishing up her year as Holmes Co. Fair queen

This past year has been a bit of a whirlwind for Jenna Sheldon, who balanced schoolwork during her senior year at West Holmes High School with FFA, 4-H, serving as a member of the Holmes County Junior Fair Board and added her name to the growing list of Holmes County Fair queens.

Not only that, but also she earned a major honor in being named to the top 15 in the Ohio Fair’s queen competition at the Ohio Fair Manager’s Association Conference in Columbus.

To say it was a busy year for the outgoing Holmes County Fair queen is a bit of an understatement.

“I’ve had a great time, a bit of a whirlwind to say the least,” Sheldon said. “I did a ton of traveling with my mom and friends, and I made a lot of great memories.”

Sheldon has spent her summer after graduating from WHHS working with the Ohio State Extension Holmes County. She also has been busy serving in her fifth year as a member of the junior fair board, and along with friend and classmate Garrett Fowler, she has driven the annual Celebrity Showman fair show.

She said the OFMA event was certainly the highlight of her time as queen, although she enjoyed so many aspects of each of the fairs and festivals to which she traveled.

While the awards and honors are memorable, Sheldon said the one thing that will remain entrenched in her mind is all the relationships she has made over her years, not only as queen, but also as a member of the Lakeville Country Farmers 4-H and more recently the West Holmes FFA chapter.

She said she has raised animals, made projects, done service projects, and grown to love and respect so many people, whether they were friends she has grown up with, club members or adults who have helped her shape her life and career by offering guidance and mentoring.

“I will definitely miss all of the people,” Sheldon said. “I’m not 100% sure of what I am going to do next year when I come back to the fair. I’ve always filled my fair week with so much. I won’t have anything specific to do, so I’ll have to find some way to fill my time.”

She said living in a small, rural community like Holmes County has allowed her to remain very close to childhood friends she has grown up with since kindergarten.

“It’s been such a great experience to be able to grow up along with my childhood friends,” Sheldon said. “We’ve done such interesting and diverse things together.”

She said her 4-H experience has been a huge part of her life, and she feels blessed to have learned how to lead and serve through the support of the many volunteers and leaders in the community, especially those among the senior fair board.

“We are very blessed to have a very supportive and awesome senior fair board,” Sheldon said. “I’ve gotten so close to many of them. I’m grateful to be able to work with such a caring fair board that welcomes all of us in the junior fair board in and trusts us as members of the junior fair board.”

All her experiences have helped her develop leadership and speaking skills, and she said that will benefit her throughout her life, whether serving as a camp counselor or raising her animals.

“So many of the things I’ve done with my friends and throughout 4-H and FFA have come with great responsibility,” she said. “I think one of the big things I’ve learned is the importance of making yourself available to others.”

As she gears up for her final week as Holmes County Fair queen, she said it will be a bittersweet time and she hopes to cherish every moment.

She will head off to college at West Virginia University in the fall to get a degree in animal science nutrition, with her sights set on becoming an animal nutritionist. She will add an ag business minor to her college career and said her time in FFA and 4-H has helped hone her ag skills and propel her toward her passion to serve others and work with animals in the future.

Sheldon said she would like nothing more than to graduate with her degree from WVU and move back to the community she so dearly loves, hoping she can pass along the wisdom she has acquired over the years to the next generation of 4-Hers and community youth.