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Students
Selected To Receive
BHSS Foundation
Millennium Scholarships
Special
Address From 1993 Winner, Kami Ireland
In
recognition of the New Millennium, the Black Hills Stock Show Foundation
has increased the amount of its annual scholarship awards from $1,000
to $2,000, presented to three students pursuing continuing education and
careers in ag-related fields.
Selected by a panel of five judges, this year's recipients are Heidi
Geigle, Wall, SD; Shane Reis, Chamberlain, SD; and Jay Tysdal,
Newcastle, Wyo. They join the list of 28 students who have benefited from
the Foundation's scholarship program since 1993.
"A
primary objective of the Foundation is to reinvest back into the region
where the support for the Stock Show has come from," says Joe Norman,
Black Hawk, S.D., Foundation President. "We recognize that youth
involvement and awareness in agriculture represents a commitment from
these students. Offering scholarships is the Foundation's way of helping
those students while encouraging youth to achieve their career goals in
the agricultural community."
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HEIDI
GEIGLE
From a ranch and farm family, Heidi Geigle attends
Northern State University, Aberdeen, SD, and continues a family tradition
of applying for and winning a BHSS Foundation scholarship. Both her sister
and brother are past recipients, Sarah in 1996 and Joshua in 1999.
Pursuing a career in elementary and special education, the question as
to how that can serve the agricultural community comes up. Her answer
is sure and confident. "When people as me how a South Dakota farm
girl is going to teach children the importance of agriculture, I tell
them it's the fact that I am a South Dakota farm girl that gives me the
experience and knowledge to incorporate agriculture in various ways, into
classroom curriculums."
"Growing up on a farm and ranch has played a formative role in my
life and has made me who I am. I can not think of a better way to share
those experiences and the knowledge, than through the process of education."
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JAY
TYSDAL
Jay Tysdal is the fifth generation of the family
ranch operation in northeast Wyoming. Now in his second year at Eastern
Wyoming College in Torrington, Wyo., he will continue his studies at the
University of Wyoming, Laramie, majoring in agribusiness.
"My
life's ambition is to spend it in agriculture," he says. "A
college education will help me become a more informed and more efficient
manager in today's business world." No stranger to initiative, Jay,
along with his brothers have started their own business, Triple T Enterprises,
Inc., a trucking and liquid feed enterprise.
"Right now, we're putting everything back into the business,"
notes Tysdal. "But we hope that if we work hard and save, our business
will be successful. You know, I read something once that has always stuck
with me; '.....as goes Agriculture, so goes the Nation.'
I
believe that's true."
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SHANE
REIS
Noted
for his academic performance and leadership abilities, Shane Reis, Chamberlain,
S.D. is receiving a scholarship made possible through an endowment from
the Switzer Family, Rapid City, SD, in memory of their father, Ray Switzer
who was a South Dakota State University(SDSU) alumnus and long-time agri-businessman.
Shane, currently a sophomore at SDSU, comes from a family ranching operation
near Oacoma, SD. As a career, he has selected the agricultural education
field. "If agriculture is anything, it's diverse," he observes.
"One day you're doctoring calves and the next, talking with a Congressmen
on international trade issues in the livestock market. And that's what
I want to do."
A firm believer in continuing education as being an important part of
achieving his life's goal, Shane has a strong anchor in agriculture and
a unique perspective to help him stay the course.
Active
in state and national FFA during high school, the words of the FFA Creed,
"have been a source for me - helping me stay in touch with my western
heritage," he observes. '....for I know the joys and discomforts
of agricultural life and hold an inborn fondness for those associations
.... which even in the hour of discouragement, I cannot deny....'
"Sometimes,
when answers are hard to come by when considering the future of agriculture,
I find them there."
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The
Foundation will host students and their parents at the Stockman's Banquet
& Ball, held during the Black Hills Stock Show & Rodeo, on Wed., February
2 when presentations will be made. The Ramkota Convention Center is the
location of the annual Banquet & Ball.
A
special address from the first recipient of the Foundation's scholarship
awards in 1993 will be a highlight of the evening program. Kami Ireland,
formerly of Rapid City and now completing her doctorate in veterinarian
medicine at Iowa State University, will make the presentations for the
year 2000.
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