Howard County 4-H team wins 2025 Arkansas 4-H Food Challenge
By Rebekah Hall
U of A System Division of Agriculture
Aug. 7, 2025
Fast Facts:
- Howard County 4-H Culinary Clovers win first place, advance to National 4-H Food Challenge
- 34 junior and senior 4-H teams from 18 Arkansas counties competed
- Competition teaches cooking, nutrition, public speaking skills
(941 words)
(Newsrooms: ‘Klinedinist’ is cq)
(Newsrooms: With photos from contest)
LITTLE ROCK — For the Howard County 4-H Culinary Clovers, their first-place win at the 2025 Arkansas 4-H Food Challenge came as the result of quick thinking, teamwork and months of practice.
“Our secret ingredient today was Spam, and that was a difficult ingredient,” said team member Abi Webb, 16. “You can never go wrong with a pasta, so we came up with a few ideas and made sure to include all of the MyPlate food groups, and here we are.”
The Arkansas 4-H Food Challenge was held Aug. 1 at the Culinary Arts and Hospitality Management Institute at University of Arkansas-Pulaski Technical College. The competition tested 34 teams from 18 Arkansas counties on their cooking skills and knowledge of MyPlate, the nutrition guide developed by the U.S. Department of Agriculture.
Contestants had 40 minutes to prepare and cook a dish in the fruit and vegetables, dairy, protein or grains category and were required to incorporate a mystery ingredient. From the contest’s “pantry,” teams could purchase common ingredients found at dollar stores to use in their dishes, including canned fruits and vegetables.
Teams then presented their dishes to a panel of judges and answered questions about their teamwork and the nutritional value of the dish.
“The 4-H Food Challenge is a great opportunity for youth to get competitive while honing their cooking skills and learning how to create healthy meals on a limited budget,” said JeAlberne Smith, extension 4-H healthy living program technician for the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. “Kids who participate in the Food Challenge emerge with more confidence in the kitchen and in themselves, which is what 4-H is all about: preparing our youth to be beyond ready for the future.”
The winners were:
Senior Division
- First place: Howard County Culinary Clovers — Payeton Bagley, Brody Cupples, Anna Kate McKinnon, Abi Webb
- Second place: Grant County Rolling Scones — Amanda Berryhill and Aubrey Ottens
- Third place: White County Culinary Clan — Cora Fry, Madalyn Johnson, Jewel Stewart
Junior Division
- First place: Grant County Chop, Drop & Pop — Savanna Connelly, Isabella Klinedinist, Carmen Ruiz, Karli Walton
- Second place: White County Battle Bakers — Reid Allen, Sophie Allen, Saige Ramsey
- Third place: Union County Saucy Bosses — Harley Cardin, Makena Saffold, Sadie Saffold
Skills for the future
As the winning senior team, the Culinary Clovers will advance to compete at the National 4-H Food Challenge, held Sept. 30 at the Texas State Fair.
McKinnon, 16, said each member of her team had “our own special part.”
“Abi, she is our main chef,” McKinnon said. “Payeton, she’s our sous chef, Brody is our designated chopper, and that leaves me. I am the official writer of our team, so I write all our speeches for the judges, and I write our MyPlate information: the steps, the ingredients, the food safety, recycling, how it can benefit us in our daily lives as teenagers and also the cost.”
Samantha Horn, Howard County Extension staff chair, said the team began practicing for the competition earlier this spring.
“We would have two practices a week, and we treated each practice like it was the actual contest,” Horn said. “When we went to the district contest, this team won. When it was time to go to state, we practiced every single day the week before, working on things we were weak in. Every kid showed up and gave it their all in preparation.”
“Communication is key,” said Cupples, 18, of their teamwork.
“We’re all friends outside of just this cooking team,” McKinnon added. “We all know each other, and we can get along with each other, and this isn’t the only time we talk. So, I think that helped us.”
Webb said the competition is a “great opportunity to learn, work on your public speaking skills and work as a team to approach a challenge.”
“I think those are big things we need in life,” she said.
McKinnon said the experience is crucial to developing knowledge that she and her fellow teenagers will need in the future.
“You’re not always going to live with your mom and dad, so they can’t cook for you for the rest of your life,” she said. “These are all dollar items that we cook with, so having those life skills of knowing how to cook a meat, or maybe just a soup, that can help you.
“The fruit, the grains, the vegetables, the protein and the dairy, we need that every day,” McKinnon said. “That is a key thing that we have worked on, that is one of our main points in this competition that we talk about, is MyPlate, because it’s so important in our lives. Especially for us as teenagers, getting older.”
Horn said her 11-year-old son also participates in the contest, and along with many other parents in Howard County, she has seen how the program impacts the 4-H members’ skills.
“These kids are preparing meals and dishes at home from absolutely nothing, and as parents, we’re like, ‘You want to cook what for dinner?’” Horn said. “But we let them do it, and it turns out well. I think that is really the definition of hands-on learning and taking what we’re teaching them from start to finish.
“That’s what we want,” Horn said. “That’s what we’re supposed to be doing, so that’s a huge win.”
To learn more about Arkansas 4-H, visit 4h.uada.edu or contact your local county agent.
4-H is a youth development program operated by the Cooperative Extension Service, part of the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture. The program teaches participants life skills through the “learn by doing” model. Program participants gain knowledge through non-formal, science-based, experiential education activities.
To learn about extension programs in Arkansas, contact your local Cooperative Extension Service agent or visit www.uaex.uada.edu. Follow us on X and Instagram at @AR_Extension. To learn more about Division of Agriculture research, visit the Arkansas Agricultural Experiment Station website: https://aaes.uada.edu. Follow on X at @ArkAgResearch. To learn more about the Division of Agriculture, visit https://uada.edu/. Follow us on X at @AgInArk.
About the Division of Agriculture
The University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture’s mission is to strengthen agriculture, communities, and families by connecting trusted research to the adoption of best practices. Through the Agricultural Experiment Station and the Cooperative Extension Service, the Division of Agriculture conducts research and extension work within the nation’s historic land grant education system.
The Division of Agriculture is one of 20 entities within the University of Arkansas System. It has offices in all 75 counties in Arkansas and faculty on three campuses.
Pursuant to 7 CFR § 15.3, the University of Arkansas System Division of Agriculture offers all its Extension and Research programs and services (including employment) without regard to race, color, sex, national origin, religion, age, disability, marital or veteran status, genetic information, sexual preference, pregnancy or any other legally protected status, and is an equal opportunity institution.
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Media Contact:
Rebekah Hall
rkhall@uada.edu
@RKHall_
501-671-2061