2020 Pocahontas County: Donna Seehusen

Donna Seehusen grew up as a Pocahontas County 4-H member of the Bellville Belles 4-H Club of Palmer, Iowa. One of her leaders was her mother and at that time, she never imagined that she would follow in her mother’s footsteps.  Because she knew 4-H had made a difference in her life, 4-H played an important role in her family’s life. Donna and her husband, Raymond, are blessed to live on a farm west of Pocahontas. Donna became a leader of the Guys & Gals of Grant in Pocahontas County shortly after their oldest daughter joined 4-H. All five of their children were members of this club, exhibiting at the county and state level. Donna also served on the Pocahontas County Extension Council years ago and is presently serving on the 4-H Youth Committee. Raymond served on the bucket calf committee for several years and sprayed the barns each year before the County Fair.  

When Donna became a recipient of the Monsanto America’s Farmers Grow Communities Grant, she gave it to her 4-H club who then presented it to the County Fair Board to put towards a new sound system at the fairgrounds. As a 4-H mom, Donna appreciated that 4-H is a family affair. It gives you accountability to teach your kids how to bake, create, do chores, and work hard even when it’s sometimes easier to do it by yourself. 

Highlights as a 4-H mom included watching her kids show sheep, including her daughter with special needs, being able to chaperone on the Citizenship Washington Focus trip with one of her daughters and to attend 4-H State Conference with another. As a 4-H leader for 23 years, Donna enjoyed the rewarding experience of teaching her 4-H’ers the life skills of community service, communication, good character, parliamentary at meetings, and record keeping. It makes it all worth it when you see your junior 4-H’er get so excited when they get a blue ribbon for the first time. It’s when you get to see that first-time 4-H’er do a one minute club presentation and then, when he becomes a senior and participates in the County Communication Event, has his 8 minute presentation memorized! You get to see the progress and the rewards come to full fruition.  Or when one of your 4-H’ers goes to college and tells you their design portfolio was one big “goal card”!  Another highlight was when one of her past 4-H’ers got married, moved back to the community, and became a co-leader with her.  Seeing your own kids and your 4-H’ers grow to become responsible adults in their own communities, using these life skills, makes it all worth it!