LANARK —Ten students have been awarded $5,000 apiece through a new Grain Farmers of Ontario scholarship fund, including an Eastern Ontario recipient from Lanark.
GFO’s Ontario Legacy Scholarship debuted this year to encourage higher education in any area of study benefiting agriculture.
The program received 106 applications that were judged (with names removed) by members of the GFO board.
The first group of awardees and their post-secondary fields of study are:
- Connor Dawson (Lanark), Precision Agriculture – Techgronomy Diploma at Olds College, Alberta
- Elizabeth Drake (Stratford), Economics – Management Option at Wilfrid Laurier University
- Jesse Fay (New Hamburg), Aerospace Engineering at Carleton University
- Brendan Gill (Puslinch), Food and Agricultural Business at the University of Guelph
- Jack Heintz, (Ayr), Computer Science at Toronto Metropolitan University
- Jake Littlejohn (Lakeside), Biology and Biotechnology at Carleton University
- Jillian Ohm (Monkton), Agriculture at the University of Guelph
- Joe Rastapkevicius (West Lorne), Agriculture at the University of Guelph
- Anuja Shrestha (Guelph), Plant Agriculture at the University of Guelph
- Katie Voskamp (Tiverton), Commerce at the University of Guelph
“The quality of applications we received was phenomenal, and we look forward to great things from the 10 selected students,” GFO Chair Brendan Byrne said.
The Grain Farmers of Ontario Legacy Scholarship will open again for applications in Summer 2023.
A previous wheat marketing fund held by GFO after the formation of the organization was tapped to create the new scholarship.