(Amarillo, TX) – On Tuesday evening, April 11, AgTexas Farm Credit Services brightened a lot of smiles by awarding $12,000 in scholarships at its ninth annual AgTexas Ag Youth Scholarship awards program at the Embassy Suites Hotel in downtown Amarillo.
AgTexas honored nine graduating high school seniors who have excelled in their 4-H clubs and FFA chapters, each with a $1,000 scholarship. The $9,000 is part of the almost $270,000 in scholarships and gift cards awarded through the education initiative AgTexas created nine years ago.
Combined with $16,000 in graduate-level scholarships, AgTexas has awarded almost $52,000 this spring.
Those scholarship recipients are Cole Hinds (Stratford FFA), Gage Whatley (Groom FFA), Molly Babcock (Groom FFA/Groom Town & Country), Jayci Nickels (Farwell FFA), Justin Hill (Moore County Community Club), Kade Lawrence (Canyon FFA/Randall County 4-H), Laynee Jennings (Sudan FFA), Payge Davina (Olton FFA), and Whitney Kennedy (Panhandle FFA/Carson County 4-H).
In addition to the nine Panhandle-area $1,000 scholarship winners, the 24 regional honorees each received a $100 gift card.
These gift card recipients included five honorees from the High Plains area: Brooke Brown (Dumas FFA), Sage Gaillard (Gruver FFA), Colt Mathews (Gruver FFA), Cole Hinds (Stratford FFA), and Justin Hill (Moore County 4-H).
The program has awarded nearly $200,000 in scholarships to graduating seniors and graduate students in the markets where AgTexas has offices – Amarillo, Brownfield, Burleson, Dumas, Hereford, Hillsboro, Levelland, Lubbock, Plainview, Seminole, and Stephenville. This is the second year AgTexas has awarded graduate-level scholarships to previous Ag Youth of the Month honorees.
This year’s Ag Youth Distinguished Alumni Scholarship recipient for the Panhandle region is Jett Bradford, a 2022 Panhandle High School graduate, who received a $3,000 scholarship to help pursue a degree in animal science with a minor in ag business at Texas Tech University. He was recently elected as an Ag Council Representative for Texas Tech’s Davis College of Agricultural Sciences & Natural Resources.
“We are honoring some of the best and brightest young minds in Texas with this program,” says AgTexas Farm Credit CEO Kayla Robinson. She adds, “These students represent the next generation of agriculture in Texas and the United States. It’s our privilege to pay tribute to their achievements thus far and encourage them for their future and the future of agriculture.”
Robinson continues, “We love the excitement of celebrating with energetic 4-H and FFA students because they bring such positivity into the room.
Graduation season is a special time in their lives, and we enjoy hearing about their hopes and dreams.”
AgTexas also introduced a new addition to the Ag Youth program – the Ag Youth Leader of the Year Award – the association presented a $1,000 check to Jeff Klose, FFA advisor at Canyon High School. In his 21 years of service, he has coached 78 FFA students to win state championships and compete for national titles in various categories. AgTexas also presented a matching $1,000 donation to benefit the Canyon FFA chapter.
Outstanding 4-H and FFA high school students received prominent recognition for their dedication to agriculture. These 4-H and FFA programs help introduce many of their participants to agriculture, encouraging students to learn and develop career, leadership, and public speaking skills that lay a solid foundation for future success.
“We are very pleased to have created the Ag Youth of the Month program because it brings positive attention to young people who are investing in our state and nation as well as their own futures,” concluded Robinson.
AgTexas serves approximately 3,500 members in 43 counties through its Panhandle, South Plains, and Central Texas regions.
About AgTexas Farm Credit Services: AgTexas is a rural lending cooperative, providing financing for real estate and operating capital, as well as insurance, leasing, and cash management services for the Ag industry since 1934. Today, AgTexas serves approximately 3,500 members in 43 counties through 11 offices, including Amarillo, Dumas, Hereford, and Plainview. In the Panhandle, AgTexas serves Armstrong, Bailey, Briscoe, Carson, Castro, Dallam, Deaf Smith, Floyd, Hale, Hansford, Hartley, Hutchinson, Lamb, Moore, Oldham, Parmer, Potter, Randall, Sherman and Swisher counties.
