Standing on a silver ladder, 18-year-old Tim Hoeft of Huntley counts out eight notches in a panel of dove-gray siding, then pounds a nail into the ninth. He drops his red hammer into the loop of his tool belt.
Hoeft is a 4-H volunteer at this Crystal Lake Habitat for Humanity home construction project, which was launched back in the heat of July.
Jack Frailey of Crystal Lake supervises the siding crew. Of Hoeft, he says without hesitation: “He’s doing a terrific job; he’s a good kid.”
A high-octane kid who joined the Huntley Harvestors 4-H Club at age 9, Hoeft was recently named a youth director on the Illinois 4-H board of directors. One of only five youths appointed to the newly created posts, Hoeft represents the state’s northeast region.
How does a young person come to achieve such an honor?
“Tim is a pretty outstanding young man,” says Cindy Harris of McHenry, 4-H community worker at the McHenry County Cooperative Extension Service. “He works very well with younger 4-H’ers as well as adults; that’s a combined trait a lot of kids don’t have.”
Don Schellhaass of Harvard, a 4-H leader, says: “I’ve seen Tim grow a lot in the last couple of years. He came up with the idea (of using the Shop & Share coupon fundraiser at Jewel), made all the contacts, got the project off the ground and it was very successful. You usually don’t see that–taking the bull by the horns–in someone that age (then 16).”
Christie Phillips, marketing director of the National 4-H Council in Chevy Chase, Md., says a role like Hoeft’s is unusual and significant. “There are very few youth organizations that have young people on their boards,” Phillips says. “I think 4-H is all about giving opportunities to kids so they can grow to their fullest potential and to help develop good leaders and citizens. It does that by youths and adults being partners.”
The state’s five youth directors, each of whom will serve a three-year term and fill different roles, first met with the board in June. Under the tutelage of corporate executive and Crystal Lake resident Louise Rogers, Hoeft will help make presentations to key corporate decision-makers who, organizers hope, will decide to open their wallets.
“We have set an internal goal of $130,000 this year to fund county grants, recognition of excellence, leadership training and public awareness,” Rogers says.
Rogers and Hoeft will call on corporations in northern Illinois to explain the opportunities and the financial needs. “Having a living example like Tim, who can talk with firsthand experience why 4-H is important for him, is the best sales tool anybody can have,” Rogers says. “Having seen him in action at two board meetings, you’d never know he’s an 18-year-old. He expresses himself and participates as if he’s been on the board for years.”
This business leadership track hardly intimidates Hoeft. “I’ll talk to anybody,” he says with the confidence 4-H gave him in the first place.
It all started in 1988. He chose his first project because his grandfather was a carpenter. “Then, two years later, I got this wild idea that I wanted to raise pigs, which I still do today, at our small farm in Huntley,” Hoeft says. “Pigs are my favorite because six to seven months of the year, it’s like having another dog, except there are up to 10 of them.” They’re not house pets, Hoeft says, but he is responsible for their well-being and a bond between them grows.
In six years, Hoeft has raised 32 pigs to show at the McHenry and Lake County Fairs–and occasionally at the Illinois State Fair–and has netted $4,000 toward his college education.
There’s more. Hoeft has completed 4-H projects in subjects as diverse as electric energy, dog care/obedience, rocketry, news writing, visual arts and computers. Altogether, he has done 61 projects in 16 categories. A beautifully crafted cigar humidor displayed at home and a cedar bench parked in town are but two examples of his carpentry projects.
And he has the pins, ribbons and plaques to prove he’s a pro. “But I haven’t won Grand Champion for the pigs–yet,” Hoeft says with a half-smile.
Two currents run through Hoeft’s 4-H experience: safety-consciousness and leadership. Time and again, he has found ways to dovetail the two in ways that help others. For example, he planned and conducted a bicycle safety seminar for 30 kindergarten age children at a library summer program.
Hoeft has held numerous offices at the Huntley Harvestors 4-H Club, including president, vice president, reporter, junior project leader and ambassador. Currently, he is a grand ambassador, which is an opportunity for those ages 16-19 to promote 4-H within the community. The young ambassadors do this by performing community service, while also making people aware that they are with 4-H.
He is also involved in county and state 4-H activities. In 1996, he was appointed the Illinois delegate to the National Safety Congress in Chicago, which is sponsored by the National Safety Council.
How does a teenager get to be safety-conscious? “It all started with work in my dad’s excavating business,” he says. “If you don’t use safety, you’ll end up dead or hurt. I also use it with my animals, so I know their environment is safe, and what they’re eating and drinking is safe, because I’m responsible.”
Both parents serve as leaders for the Huntley Harvestors. Jan and Terry Hoeft are heavily involved in the community too. “We’re really into volunteering,” his mother, Jan, says. “Terry has served on the village board, he’s a trustee at church, I’m a deacon, I’m the vice president of the Huntley Chamber of Commerce, he’s the chairman of the ambassador group there, I’ve served on the American Cancer Society board in this area. But right now, probably our heaviest commitments are to 4-H. We feel real fortunate to be part of 4-H. It gives kids a chance to bloom and grow away from peer pressure at school.”
Mom and Dad are successful entrepreneurs; she owns Interior Motives Inc., an interior design firm, and he owns TJH Contracting Inc., an excavating operation, where his son clocks about 20 hours a week after school.
In his free time, Tim Hoeft is an avid golfer, downhill skier, car racer, snowmobiler and drummer. He is a senior at Marian Central Catholic High School in Woodstock, and he has his heart set on attending the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign next fall.
There, the College of Agriculture offers a technical systems management major that links various disciplines–engineering, computer science and excavating among them–so graduates can customize their education to prepare for a specific career. Possibilities include farm management, industrial plant management and construction management, the road Hoeft plans to take.
Besides planning to continue in 4-H throughout college, Hoeft has another dream, one he will no doubt keep gently simmering on the back burner. “If I could do anything,” he says, “I’d be a farmer.”
