“Experience as many different things as you can,” advised Brooklynn Roberts. “There are so many cultures and experiences that you can have that aren’t just here.”
Brooklynn Roberts has definitely had a variety of experiences and does everything she can to continue to learn and do new things. She graduated from Quitman High School in 2019, and although she loves Clarke County, she doesn’t seclude herself to just this area. In fact, she has continued her education and had new experiences by branching out a little more at college. Although she was on a smaller campus, her experience came through a valued lesson learned.
“I’ve been attending East Mississippi Community College in Scuba. I loved my year there. It became my home,” stated Brooklynn. “There’s not much to do, but I really found my family. My Wesley group would go to our building all the time and just spend time together and talk. It was one of the best decisions and experiences I’ve made in my life. I was dead set on going to Mississippi State University right out of high school. Mrs. Christy King and some others were telling me to go to community college first because it would help in the long run. I didn’t want to believe them, but I decided to anyway. They were right. It really does help to go to community college first. I’m transferring to Mississippi State this year.”
Now that she is attending Mississippi State, Brooklynn has her goals set to help her be successful in the future.
“I’m going to Mississippi State this year and majoring in culture science with a pre-vet concentration,” said Brooklynn. “I want to go to vet school. That’s my plan, but I have to finish my degree at State before I can apply to a vet school. I’ve actually worked at the clinic here in town with Dr. Ashley since January, so that’s helped give me a lot of experience. I loved working there.”
Her love for animals and desire to work with them has been developing most of her life. Since she was a young child, Brooklynn has participated in the 4-H program in Clarke County and done a variety of things with 4-H, including showing livestock.
Brooklynn’s involvement with 4-H went much deeper than simply showing livestock, however. She participated in multiple areas and was able to go to National Competition in three different areas, which is a major accomplishment.
One of the areas that Brooklynn excelled in was shooting sports, and although she is unable to continue to shoot with 4-H, she still enjoys competing in various shooting competitions.
“I shoot archery a lot still,” stated Brooklynn. “I went to nationals in hunting when I was in 4-H. I shot archery, shotgun, and a .22 rifle in Nebraska a few years ago at the national competition. I shoot competition archery a good bit still. It’s just not with 4-H since I’m aging out.”
Her trip to Nebraska was not as simple as just shooting at a target from specific distances. The archery completion had her shooting at life-size 3-D targets, including a dinosaur. She had to shoot at clays with the shotgun. With the .22 rifle, she was responsible for shooting at steel silhouette targets from 50 yards. On top of all that, she had to take a written test showing her knowledge.
Of course, going to nationals for shooting sports isn’t the only 4-H event that stands out to Brooklynn. She also remembers being able to attend the Great American Seafood Cookoff in New Orleans.
“I also went to New Orleans for the National Seafood Cookoff. Gavin Reeves and I competed here at state and got first place, so we got to go to New Orleans to compete,” explained Brooklynn. “The first day they have all the older people doing their competition, and then they had the youth division that we were in. We got to meet Paula Deen and cook for everyone. We placed sixth there. We had a lot of problems. The ovens quit working and all kinds of stuff. It’s timed, so we only had an hour to do everything. We would’ve done a lot better if we didn’t have all the problems. It was a really good experience. I learned a lot there, especially in handling stuff not working out the way I planned for it to work.”
Brooklynn isn’t the only one who loved her experience with 4-H. Christy King, the Clarke County Extension Agent, has also loved having Brooklynn be part of 4-H over the years.
“Brook is an amazing young lady who isn’t afraid to try something new. She approaches everything in life with eagerness and an initiative that is rare. She has high expectations of herself and consistently meets those expectations,” boasted Christy King. “That’s not to say that everything comes easy to her, because that’s just not the case. It’s just that when something is difficult, she doesn’t give up. She’s not good at everything she tries, but she’s going to work at it until she is good at it. I honestly have never seen her unwilling to try something. If I had a new project or idea that I threw her way, she always responded with ‘Okay, sure. I’ll do it.’ That has led to her being incredibly well-rounded. She was involved in projects in 4-H from livestock, shooting sports and hunting, to cooking, leadership, and robotics. She has done it all. She has qualified for and competed in national events from shooting sports and conservation to cooking. One national 4-H trip in just one area is hard to achieve, much less three national trips in three different project areas. I have watched her grow from an awkward pre-teen who wouldn’t speak in front of a crowd to a self-confident well-rounded young lady who is a seasoned public speaker. She actually begs to be in front of large groups now.”
Brooklynn is now aging out of 4-H, but she managed to accomplish her major goals before aging out.
“I finally got my green jacket, which is our state ambassador team. Everyone gets a green blazer when they go on the ambassador team, and I got mine last year,” stated Brooklynn. “When I was eight and we had our awards banquet, I saw a couple of the older kids with green jackets. I told my mama and Mrs. King that I would be getting one of those one day. I got my green jacket and my red vest, which is a shooting sports ambassador vest. I got both of those and reached the goal I had since I was eight.”
Now that she is no longer able to participate in the different events with 4-H as a member, Brooklynn has found another way to pass the time and continue to compete: coon hunting.
“I had to find something else to do now that I can’t compete with 4-H anymore,” explained Brooklynn. “Since I can’t show livestock anymore, I started showing and hunting dogs. I thought coon hunting would be something fun to do just every now and then, but then I realized there’s a competition side of it that’s really big. I never thought I’d go to Indiana and hunt in a competition, but that’s exactly what I did a few weekends ago.”
Her trip to Indiana was very successful, and she and her dog only lost because of the flip of a coin to break a tie.
“I got fourth in the cast the first time we went up there. I got second in the handler’s race,” said Brooklynn. “I was 25 points from first place. It was my first time going up north, so it was pretty scary. I did get to know more people and make more friends from that experience, though.”
Her coon hunting interest is not new. She has been working with dogs for years.
“I got into coon hunting with daddy around three years ago. We’ve had coon dogs for about six years,” stated Brooklynn. “I’ve hunted all my life. When I was little we had rabbit dos. Then, we swapped a little bit and got coon dogs. The dog I used in Indiana is named Rip.”
Although Brooklynn has had plenty of experiences through 4-H, school, and other competitions around the United States, she also has a passion for learning about and experiencing other cultures. In fact, she was able to experience a different culture after graduation when she went to Israel as a graduation present.
“I spent a month in Israel with my aunt. Her husband works in the oil field, and that was my graduation present from them. They came here for my graduation. They have a house in Texas and Israel, so I just went back to Texas with them after graduation and then flew out to Israel,” explained Brooklynn. “That is my favorite trip I’ve ever taken. There’s so much stuff over there. We went to all the historical sites and biblical sites and everything. I loved that because I was actually able to see some of the stuff we read about in the bible. We went down to Jerusalem. We went to the Dead Sea, and I got to float in the Dead Sea. I went scuba diving in the Red Sea. One of my dreams was always to go scuba diving, and I’ve always loved the water. Other than the biblical side, that was my favorite thing. We saw an octopus and so many different fish.”
Brooklynn loves to be able to learn about and experience different cultures. She has a desire to learn more about everything around her, and there is no doubt that she will go far in life and continue to learn important life lessons through all of her experiences.
