BROOKLYN — The usual sounds of chirping birds and blowing wind that serenade the countryside on any rural Wisconsin farm are accompanied by a much more distinct noise at the farm of Ivy Horn’s family in Brooklyn: the clucking of chickens, Atilla the Hen and Flock the Ripper.

Horn grew up on a farm with cattle but had never owned chickens until an experience with a fellow 4-H member at the Green County Fair inspired her interest.  

Now a graduating senior, Horn was around 13 when she became rather smitten by a chicken at the fair. The bird’s owner took an egg from its enclosure and blew out the yolk, leaving Horn with the hollow eggshell — and more notably, a love for chickens.

Over the next few years, she found passion and success in showing her chickens, which she bought as chicks shortly after that experience, keeping them in a homemade coop she helped make.

Beyond poultry, Horn has found passion in many different things which 4-H introduced to her.

She was able to travel internationally through 4-H twice, spending a month in both Finland and Japan. Horn also hosted and traveled with the 4-H interstate exchange, where she was paired with a partner from Pennsylvania. 

Other projects Horn has been involved in include woodworking and houseplants.

In fall, Horn will be attending Syracuse University in New York to study forensic science and linguistics. She decided on the unique study of forensic science partly thanks to her involvement in 4-H.

“There are so many different projects that you get to try a bunch of different things and you kind of find out what you like and what you don’t like,” Horn said. “I found out that I really like working with my hands and building things. This is something that I can do with that. I don’t want to sit behind a desk and do anything along those lines. (4-H) really definitely helped me.”

Along with introducing Horn to new hobbies, 4-H has helped her to gain confidence and leadership and organizational skills. 4-H helped her decide what she wanted to study, but it also gave her the courage to do so at a school so far from home. 

“I probably wouldn’t have been able to make that decision if it wasn’t for 4-H,” Horn said. 

The confidence and leadership that 4-H has helped Horn grow into is noticeable not only to her, but to those close to her as well.

Horn’s mother and 4-H Club Leader Jessica Horn, has watched her daughter grow throughout her years in 4-H. 

“She became more social,” Jessica Horn said.  “Became more of a leader, became much more confident… and that’s kind of carried over into other areas… She never really shies away from anything. If there’s an issue, she’ll just deal with it head on. I think it’s really made her a good leader.”