AMES, Iowa--State Fair Queen Lydia Beck not only has been a regular at the fair for 12 years, she also has been a 4-H participant and a volunteer worker for many of those years.

Lydia especially enjoyed coming to fair with 4-H communication projects such as working exhibits, educational presentations and Share-the-Fun. She said she probably learned the most from her communications work and brought many entries to the state level.

Her favorite part of 4-H, however, was serving for two years on the State 4-H Council, which is a group of 40 high school juniors and seniors selected through an interview process to serve as ambassadors for the 4-H program on the local and state levels.

This year she co-chaired the Iowa 4-H Youth Conference, which the council members organize and produce in partnership with staff of Iowa State University Extension 4-H Youth Development and the Iowa 4-H Foundation. Last year Lydia served on the food/housing/registration committee. 

Lydia said she enjoyed serving on state council because she met many new people, could promote 4-H and experienced a bigger world through the contacts and activities.

As State Fair Queen, she plans to take many of her skills learned in 4-H and apply them to serving as an ambassador for the fair. She is equally prepared to appear on stage or in the livestock barns, having also shown sheep as part of her 4-H career.

Although Lydia hails from a rural community, she had first-hand experience with the urban side of 4-H because Waterloo and Cedar Falls were nearby her hometown of Buckingham.

“It’s important to promote 4-H as a program for everybody, not just farm kids,” she said. Black Hawk County had a “huge showcase of different projects; it’s not just about showing livestock -- there is so much more.”

Lydia is “very thankful for 4-H.” She said her communication skills have improved tremendously since joining, as well as her leadership skills. It also has broadened her horizons in what she can do at both the local and state levels.

Family involvement in 4-H is another asset the new State Fair Queen points to. She said her family has more than 100 years of 4-H experience including that of her brothers Neal and Lee, her parents Louis and Pat Beck, and her grandparents Don and Ruth Beck and Ted and Phyllis Green.

This fall Lydia will be a freshman at the University of Missouri majoring in Pre-Med, working toward a degree in pediatric medicine.

“I always knew I wanted to be in pediatrics before I could even spell it,” she said. Lydia chose Missouri because the school offers an advanced admissions program so that she will automatically be accepted into their medical program when finished with her undergraduate work.
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