WCFA and IAW ANNOUNCES 2021 SCHOLARSHIP RECIPIENTS
Women Changing the Face of Agriculture is project of the Illinois Agri-Women. The annual conference to be hosted at Carl Sandburg College in Galesburg, IL has been moved to 2022. However, WCFA is utilizing an online curriculum this year. Visit here for more information or, the website, IllinoisAgriwomen.org.
This year, four scholarships for females studying agriculture are offered by the Illinois Agri-Women. The Illinois Agri-Women (IAW) organization supports the agriculture industry, works for legislation to support and preserve family farms, communicates with other agriculture organizations, and strives to educate the public and promote agricultural awareness.
Illinois AgriWomen Helen Henert Agriculture Education Scholarship recipient receives $1500.
The 2021 recipient of the $1500 IAW Helen Henert Agriculture Education Scholarship is Hannah Spangler of Avon, Illinois. Spangler is a rising senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign studying Agricultural Education. Hannah has been very active in 4-H and FFA in previous years and credits her passion for agriculture for leading her to choose a career as an agricultural educator.
Spangler notes, “Agriculture is crucial to our lives. Farmers ensure we have food, truck drivers ensure we can get it to our tables, and ag teachers ensure students are able to grow in their knowledge of agriculture…I’m becoming an agriculture teacher because I want to help bridge the gap.”
Gracie Murphy, Emma Freebairn and Abigayle Endress are each recipients of the WCFA Agent of Change Scholarship receiving $1000 each.
Gracie Murphy of Macomb, Illinois is a graduating senior of Macomb Senior High School. This fall, she will be pursuing a degree in Agricultural Education at Southern Illinois University Carbondale with plans of becoming a high school agriculture teacher and FFA Advisor.
Murphy credits, “Serving as the Illinois FFA Section 11 President this past year has encouraged me to become a positive role model not only for my students but everyone that I meet…I have had numerous opportunities to make an impact on several students…I desire to be seen as a positive, inspiring and helpful person.”
Emma Freebairn, of Serena, Illinois, is receiving the Undergraduate Student Scholarship while she continues her education at Lake Land College in Mattoon. After finishing her associate degree, Emma plans on transferring to a university to pursue a degree in either Agricultural Leadership or Communications.
“Attending the Women Changing the Face of Agriculture influenced my future plans in many ways. This conference also opened my eyes to a wide variety of jobs in agriculture, and showed me that there are many agricultural companies out there that I hadn’t even heard of before,” Freebairn notes.
Receiving the Graduate Student Scholarship is Abigayle Endress of Pearl City, Illinois. Abigayle is pursuing a Juris Doctor degree with a Food and Agricultural Law Certificate at Drake University Law School in Des Moines, Iowa. Her desire to pursue this degree stems from her passion to assist families in rural settings with the farm-transition process so that future generations will have the opportunity to experience the joys and perils of agriculture as past generations of their families once have.
Endress shares, “My love for agriculture has been the driving force behind my selection of this career path because I want to serve as a resource for rural families and make a difference in the agriculture industry.”
Scholarship application information will be posted in February 2022 on our websites for WCFA and Illinois AgriWomen. Please contact Lynn Curry with any questions.
