Ag students, class earn national recognition from scholarship contest

Three Northwest Missouri State University students recently earned honors for their work during the Animal Agriculture Alliance’s College Aggies Online scholarship competition, and the University’s agriculture advocacy class netted $1,000.

Northwest students William Grant, Kade Plattner and Payton Craig were among the individual winners as the Animal Agriculture Alliance awarded more than $20,000 to college students and clubs throughout the country. More than 300 individuals and 20 collegiate clubs enrolled in the competition, representing 95 colleges and 35 states.

College Aggies Online is an initiative of the Animal Agriculture Alliance that connects college students who are interested in promoting agriculture. In the individual division, participants receive training from industry experts and engage on social media by posting information about current and emerging issues facing farmers and ranchers as well as sharing personal stories.

Grant, a senior agricultural business major from Carrollton, Missouri, placed third in the individual competition and received a $500 scholarship.

In the club division, students hosted farm tours, campus events and food drives, among other events, to engage with peers about agriculture. Northwest’s agricultural advocacy class received the second-place prize of $1,000 for its “Newbies on the Farm” event.

In addition to the scholarship winners, 11 students throughout the country earned the College Aggies Online Excellence Award as top performers in the competition. Those award winners included Plattner, a junior agricultural business major from Chillicothe, Missouri, and Craig, a junior agricultural business major from Eagleville, Missouri.

Northwest’s School of Agricultural Sciences has experienced rapid growth in recent years with about 10 percent of the University’s student population enrolled in an agriculture program. In addition to its headquarters at the Dean L. Hubbard Center for Innovation, the School of Agricultural Sciences operates the Horticulture Complex and the 448-acre R.T. Wright Farm, which is home to beef, swine, dairy and sheep enterprises as well as row and forage crops.

Additionally, Northwest’s Forever Green campaign is raising funds for an Agricultural Learning Center, an estimated $8.5 million, 29,000-square-foot center to be built at the R.T. Wright Farm. The multipurpose facility will provide classrooms and laboratory resources to supplement and enhance the academic curriculum and research as well as space for public and private functions such as producer and agricultural industry meetings, workshops, shows and career development events, and the promotion of agricultural literacy.

For more information about the School of Agricultural Sciences, visit www.nwmissouri.edu/ag/.