Nominate schools for grants designed to enhance STEM

ST. LOUIS, Mo. — In 2018, it is projected that 2.4 million jobs in science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) will go unfilled. To help K-12 educators enhance their STEM curriculum and excite students about these fields, the America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education program, sponsored by the Monsanto Fund, will once again provide farmers with the opportunity to nominate their local public schools for the chance to receive $10,000 or $25,000 grants.

Farmers can nominate their local school by visiting www.GrowRuralEducation.com where the process takes less than five minutes and has made a lasting impact in countless classrooms.

“Winning an America’s Farmers Grow Rural Education grant gave my students a lesson that they will remember for a lifetime,” said Vic Worthington, an eighth-grade science and technology teacher at Rochelle Middle School in Rochelle, Ill.

His class received a $25,000 grant and used a portion of the funds to build a 3-D printer. After learning about how Jake Hubbard, a local Illinois farmer, lost his left arm in a farming accident, Worthington and his class spent an entire school year researching, designing and building a prosthetic arm.

For Hubbard, the prosthetic gave him newfound mobility, including playing with and holding his young children. “It’s pretty heartwarming that the students would do that, especially for someone that they had never met before,” he said.

Farmers can nominate their school district until April 2. After the school district receives a nomination, the Monsanto Fund will notify the district and encourage administrators and teachers to design a grant that enhances STEM education for their students.

Nominated districts have until April 15 to submit a grant application describing their project. An advisory council composed of farmer leaders reviews finalist applications and selects the winning districts.

MYLSF scholarship application deadline set for May 15

LANSING, Mich. — Since 2000, the Michigan Youth Livestock Scholarship Fund (MYLSF) has awarded $491,000 in scholarships and educational awards to outstanding youth who have exhibited at the premier livestock events in the state of Michigan.

New in 2018, a select number of applicants may be offered an opportunity to be interviewed for an up to $5,000 scholarship prior to the Sale-Abration. The MYLSF scholarship committee will choose the top scholarship applicants in June to come back for an interview prior to the Sale-Abration.

To be eligible for either the MYLSF general scholarship or the statewide scholarship, the applicant must be a resident of Michigan and a graduating high school senior or a high school graduate continuing their education at an accredited institution in the year in which they are applying.

For the general MYLSF scholarship, the applicant must be a youth exhibitor at the Michigan Livestock Expo, the Michigan Dairy Expo or the former Michigan State Fair, for a minimum of three calendar years prior to the year of application.

For the statewide scholarship, an applicant must be a youth exhibitor at a local, county or statewide exhibition for a minimum of three years prior to the year of application.

Specific proceeds from the Michigan Livestock Expo Sale-Abration auction as well as charitable donations help fund the scholarships. Applications and qualification requirements for the MYLSF and the statewide scholarship can be obtained at www.michigan.gov/mda-mylsf

Applications must be postmarked no later than 5 p.m. on May 15. If you have any questions, call Jeff Haarer, Michigan Department of Agriculture and Rural Development’s producer security section manager, at 517-284-5642, or Ernie Birchmeier, Michigan Farm Bureau’s livestock & dairy specialist, at 517-679-5335.

Farm Credit: ‘Pay it forward’ for FFA Leadership Center

TRAFALGAR, Ind. — As part of a “pay it forward” campaign, Farm Credit Mid-America, a long-time Indiana FFA partner and agriculture lender, has pledged up to $30,000 in matching funds to the Indiana FFA Foundation and is challenging businesses, FFA alumni and others to follow their lead.

The goal of the campaign is to retire an original loan on the Indiana FFA Leadership Center in Trafalgar, and aims to raise $60,000 by June.

Since the first camp was held in 1971, more than 100,000 FFA members have taken advantage of the unique leadership center. With the Indiana FFA Foundation recently investing close to $550,000 in facility capital projects and improvements, the center has been a place of growth and stability for FFA members across the state.

Any additional funds raised will be used to set up an endowment for the Center. If you would like to donate to the campaign, visit www.inffa.org/foundation or contact Foundation Executive Director Lisa Chaudion at 317-878-4178 or lchaudion@inffa.org

ASA, BASF award Iowa student with soybean scholarship

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ANAHEIM, Calif. — McKenna Nielsen of Audubon, Iowa, has received the 2018-19 Soy Scholarship sponsored by BASF and the American Soybean Assoc. (ASA). The scholarship is a $5,000 award presented to an exceptional high school senior who excels in both academics and in leadership roles, and plans to pursue a degree in an agriculture-related field at an accredited college or university.

Nielsen has been involved in 4-H on the local, state and national levels. She’s also served as an officer in FFA and participated in a Supervised Agriculture Experience project, farming soybeans and corn. She has taken opportunities to discuss farming with lawmakers in her state and in Washington, D.C.

She plans to pursue a double major in agricultural studies related to food resources and medical studies for nursing at Morningside College. She will be a fifth-generation farmer on both sides of her family.

“I will be farming in the fields where my great-great-grandparents began our family legacy so many years ago,” Nielsen wrote in her application. “With our aging farming population, as youth we need to start stepping up to the challenge of working with our parents/grandparents to learn how to grow food, care and preserve our family farms and work to increase incomes in farming.”

BASF and ASA presented the scholarship to Nielsen in Anaheim during Commodity Classic.