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| Topeka West sophomore Claire Coultis at the State 4-H Convention |
Livestock and crafts are the first things that come to mind
for many when discussing 4-H. However, Topeka
West sophomore Claire Coultis invested her time in a less typical facet of the
positive youth development and mentoring organization. Coultis chose reading as
a focus for her two-year, award winning project.
As an eighth grader at Jardine Middle School, Coultis had no
idea that her project would become nationally recognized. Coultis’ journey to Kansas
4-H state champion began with a brainstorming session with her mother, Barbara
Coultis. They discussed how to conduct a reading project in a unique way that
had not yet been attempted.
“There is a negative stigma with the reading project that
it’s all book reports,” Coultis said. “I thought we could do a lot with it that
other people didn’t think of.”
She planned and led various programs within Topeka,
expanding reading programs for her peers, read children’s books to
preschoolers, wrote book reviews for the Shawnee County Public Library website,
collected books as donations to various Topeka libraries and even volunteered
at Jardine Middle School’s book fair.
Coultis also took this opportunity to expand her own reading
skills and knowledge. In the past two years, she has learned to read in French,
became well versed in international affairs and connected to her family
heritage by reading passages from her grandmother’s journal from the Great
Depression. Through this process, Coultis realized that reading is key to both
gaining and sharing knowledge and that reading can, “help keep a community
together.”
Coultis will be traveling to Georgia over Thanksgiving break
for the National 4-H Congress where she will be celebrated as the Kansas 4-H
Champion for Reading. When she returns, she plans to continue focusing on her
academics, Model UN, Scholar’s Bowl and orchestra at Topeka West. After
graduating from Topeka West in 2020 she hopes to attend a Kansas based college
and pursue a career in a STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Music) field.
