CULVER, Ore. — Uriel Mejia had done his homework and was ready to propose a new skate park to the Culver City Council.
Moments before the meeting, his co-presenters backed out. Mejia, then a high school freshman, presented solo — drawing on skills he learned at the High Desert Leadership Retreat, an Oregon State University Extension Service 4-H Youth Development camp in Redmond.
“I used my skills that I learned through 4-H to make a proper presentation,” said Mejia, now a high school graduate attending the University of Southern California.
“4-H has given me so many opportunities to really get out of my comfort zone and be more of a leader.”
Councilors supported the idea but said the city couldn’t afford it. Mejia kept going.
That 2019 presentation “got the ball rolling,” Mejia said. At the time, he and other skateboarders used a patch of land near a highway. Culver is a city of about 1,300 in Jefferson County, 10 miles south of Madras.
Community members rallied. Mejia’s first-grade teacher, Cindy Dix, helped secure $165,000 in grants from the Urban Renewal District, the Bean Foundation, Oregon Community Foundation and the Central Oregon Health Council.
“Cindy has played an integral role in fundraising and helping me throughout this process,” Mejia said. “The project wouldn’t be possible without her help.”
Community fundraising builds a foundation
After Darlene Urbach — Dix’s teaching assistant in Mejia’s first-grade class — died of cancer in 2019, her family established a memorial fund that grew to $10,000 through a GoFundMe and other efforts.
Delta Pro Scooters in Bend donated 2,500 scooters that sold at a discount for $50 each, adding more than $100,000 to the Darlene Urbach Memorial Youth Fund. The Jefferson County Commissioners contributed $10,000. Business fundraisers added $13,000, and community members contributed $2,000.
“Now that we had serious money, we went back to the city council and said, ‘Hey, we can do something here,’” Mejia said. The council passed a resolution to buy property for the skate park in September, taking possession in November. The park will be named for Darlene Urbach.
Major grant moves project to construction
In June, Mejia briefly stepped away from the 4-H Summer Conference in Corvallis to present to the Oregon State Parks and Recreation Commission for a competitive $750,000 Oregon State Park Grant. In October, the project learned it had been awarded the grant.
Construction is expected to start in December on the skate park, which has expanded to include pickleball courts and a bike pump track on land adjacent to Culver Veterans Memorial Park.
“At this point, we’re just finalizing more funds to put this into one stage instead of building in stages,” Mejia said.
4-H experience shapes a leader
Mejia graduated in June from Baker Early College in Bend with a high school diploma and an associate degree from Central Oregon Community College. He’s majoring in civil engineering at USC, where he earned a full-tuition Trustee Scholarship and a Viterbi School of Engineering Scholarship.
His long 4-H journey began in fourth grade showing market lambs and grew into leadership roles. He served as a group leader and speaker at Oregon 4-H Youth Voices in Action, attended the 4-H National Conference in Washington, D.C., and was a youth member of OSU Extension’s Director’s Advocacy Cabinet.
“4-H has given me so many opportunities to really get out of my comfort zone and be more of a leader,” Mejia said. “I used those skills to get more support for the skate park. Being in 4-H has also instilled in me a commitment to community service.”
Previously titled Determined 4-H’er helps lead effort to build a skate park in his hometown
