Tennessee’s own Mason Valentine (far left) from Sevier County attributes his time in 4-H to his acceptance and success at Johns Hopkins.
When Mason Valentine and his family first heard about Tennessee 4-H, they initially thought it was a book club. But as they discovered more about the organization and the close to 30 project areas, they quickly became more involved.
“As homeschoolers, 4-H was a new social opportunity, which was exciting,” Valentine says. “I started out in the entomology project because my agent, Glenn Turner, recommended it, and after that, I was just like any other middle school 4-Her.”
As a middle schooler in Sevier County 4-H, Valentine attended 4-H camp and continued in his project area but credits his 4-H experience in high school and his sister as what really led him to where he is today.
“My sister, who is around three and a half years older, was a huge inspiration for me. She did 4-H in high school, and seeing her experience on the All Star Council gave me a good perspective of what 4-H had to offer,” Valentine says. “Then, what kept me was the number of friends I made who are all amazing people.”
Mason Valentine’s Impressive 4-H Career
In addition to those valuable friendships, Valentine also competed in the performing arts and recreation project as well as the creative arts and design project. He was also a member of the performing arts troop all four years, served as a 4-H Congress officer and then held various positions on the State 4-H Council.
“My project areas gave me a great way to express my creativity as a lot of what I did was music and photography,” Valentine says. “There were a lot of creative projects, and it was great to be able to put those in my portfolio.”
Music had always been something he was interested in, but thanks to a connection he made through 4-H, music became much more.
“When I was 15 years old, I met Dixie Seaton, a master gardener, through our local 4-H program, and she started teaching me piano,” Valentine says. “She introduced me to a lot of new music, and something clicked one day while coming home from one of her lessons. I knew from that point on I wanted to make music.”
From Seymour to Baltimore
That decision was the catalyst that led him to where he is now – studying music for new media at the Peabody Institute of Johns Hopkins University.
“If I’m honest, I applied here somewhat off a whim, based on a suggestion from my teacher,” Valentine says. “She knew they had a great film scoring program, which is what I hope to do, and I looked into the college more and then applied and was blessed to get a full ride here – a very lucky chance I’m thankful for.”
While Valentine only recently completed his freshman year, he is already setting his sights on what’s ahead. He aspires to be a film score composer, creating music for films and video games.
“I don’t know what will happen, but my big plan is to apply for a master’s degree in film scoring in California,” Valentine says. “But mainly, I just want to make music for anywhere that needs me because I think that’s what God wants me to do.”
Moving all the way from Seymour to Baltimore has been quite the adjustment, but Valentine knows that if it wasn’t for 4-H, there’s no way he would be as confident and prepared as he is.
“Without 4-H, as a homeschooler, it would not have been as easy to fit in here and make friends like I already have,” Valentine says. “It’s always hard fitting into a new setting, but 4-H gave me the social and speaking skills to be able to get here and succeed in that.”