For many juniors and their families the week of the Junior National is their most looked forward to week of the year, so it’s important to the breed associations and host states to make sure it’s just that. Year after year the Junior Shorthorn Exhibitors look forward to their best 7 days of the Summer which wouldn’t be possible without the Junior Shorthorn Association and their junior board members who all work hard to make sure that it is just that which is why the National Junior Shorthorn was voted as the 2022 Best of the Barns Most Enjoyable Junior National.
One of the things the board highly encourages is for its members to be involved in as many of the activities as they can be that happen at Junior Nationals. This encourages the kids to take chances, try something they haven’t done before and get involved. Those are the experiences where you meet new people and often have the best time, no matter the outcome. As an association and board members, they plan a variety of activities that everyone can participate in, including parents. Even though the week is long, they really enjoy what they are doing, and the kids see that and it makes it fun for them to participate too.
When the planning begins for junior nationals, one of the biggest goals this team faces is to “always keep the junior members in mind and do what will best benefit them. Because ultimately, they are the reason, we do what we do. They are the ones that voted us onto the board with the expectation to make the best decisions.”
As an organization, the board members and team hope that the juniors can look back at their week spent at junior nationals, whether this is their first, last, or any other in between, and not just remember were they placed or what awards were won or not won but the friendships and memories they made. With that being said, that is one of the reasons that NJSS is a junior national that continues to excel, because it goes beyond the livestock. “It is the people that become like family that continue to make it the best. Our Shorthorn family is the best!” NJSS is very excited to see everyone and spend a week with our shorthorn family!