Georgia Farm Bureau awards college scholarships

GFB President Zippy Duvall (far right) and GFB Women’s Committee Chairman Hazel Masters (far left) congratulate the 2007 GFB Scholarship recipients, pictured from right, Whitney Franks, Morgan Evans, Austin Suggs and Daniel Williams and scholarship alternate Mark Lashley.

Georgia Farm Bureau awarded college scholarships to four high school seniors during the organization’s annual scholarship luncheon held March 3, at the GFB headquarters in Macon.

Scholarship recipients are Morgan Evans of Dodge County; Whitney Franks of Burke County; Austin Suggs of Tift County and Daniel Williams of Sumter County. Each student will receive a $1,500 scholarship with half awarded for the student’s freshman year and the second half awarded for the student’s sophomore year of college. Recipients must maintain a B average to retain the scholarship. Mark Lashley of Decatur County was named a scholarship alternate.

“I’d like to thank you for choosing agriculture as your future career field,” GFB President Zippy Duvall told the students. “Agriculture is the backbone of Georgia’s economy. You should be proud of this industry. It’s an exciting time to be part of agriculture with the role agriculture is going to play in the development of renewable fuels and breaking our dependency on foreign fuel.”

Georgia Farm Bureau annually awards scholarships to outstanding high school seniors who plan to continue their education in a field related to agriculture or family and consumer sciences. The GFB Women’s Committee coordinates the scholarship program, which is sponsored by the GFB Mutual Insurance Company. Fifty-five applicants from 36 counties representing all ten of GFB’s organizational districts applied for the scholarships. Ten finalists were selected based on their academic records and extracurricular activities. Independent judges interviewed the 10 finalists immediately prior to the awards luncheon.

The other scholarship finalists were: Rebekah Bowen of Candler County; Iris Cannon of Oconee County; Jennifer Dalton of Banks County; Chance Rhodes of Greene County and Ben Winter of Thomas County. All finalists received a $200 award.

“The Georgia Farm Bureau Women’s Committee is proud to work with the Georgia Farm Bureau Mutual Insurance Company to recognize and assist outstanding students who are choosing to pursue a career in agriculture,” GFB Women’s Committee Chairman Hazel Masters said.

Evans plans to attend Abraham Baldwin Agricultural College (ABAC) and pursue a degree in family and consumer science. Franks plans to attend the University of Georgia and major in dairy science. Suggs plans to attend ABAC and major in agricultural communications. Williams plans to major in agricultural communications at UGA.