Fifteen-year-old Regan Oplotnik of Girard earned Senior Reserve Champion for visual arts at the 2025 Crawford County Fair with a unique artwork made entirely from Dum Dum lollipop wrappers, depicting six horses by a stream. Her 34×22 inch piece, which required extensive help collecting wrappers, will be showcased at the Kansas State Fair alongside over 10,000 other 4-H projects. This is her second year exhibiting such art at the state fair, following a 2024 farm scene that gained recognition from Spangler Candy Company, though she declined their offer to buy it.

The article also highlights other notable 4-H projects, including William Allen’s Grand Champion Lego hotel with a working elevator, siblings Ellie and Anson Geist’s diverse entries in food, sewing, photography, and agricultural mechanics, and Genevieve Crouch’s award-winning fossil collection after a statewide search for a missing specimen. These young participants emphasize 4-H’s role in skill-building, creativity, and hands-on learning, with Oplotnik encouraging others to think outside the box and take pride in their unique efforts.