Montana FFA Foundation awards scholarships and grants

From Montana FFA Foundation

BOZEMAN — This spring, the Montana FFA Foundation was able to award over $70,000 in scholarships and grants to FFA members and local FFA chapters throughout the state including several awards in Chinook.

The foundation said the awards would not be possible without generous donors and supporters.

Thirty-nine students will be receiving a combined total of $42,000 in scholarships for college, leadership development, and top individuals in competitions held at the State FFA Convention in Bozeman.

These are the leadership and college scholarships recipients who were selected this spring.

Leadership Development Scholarships:  

Alumni Leadership Camp — Bree Swanson, Chinook; Claire Standley, Missoula; Aidan Thompson, Deer Lodge; Liberty Graham, Fromberg; Hailee Varner, Wibaux; Amelia Laubach, Big Timber; Lenora Shoemaker, Fromberg; Devan Birrer, Fromberg; Morgan Friede, Chinook; Jerzee Carr, Fromberg

Washington Leadership Conference — Taylor Noyes, Broadwater; Gracie Smith, Victor; Miles Graveley, Deer Lodge; Max Andres, Missoula; Raelynn Thomasson, Big Timber; Aidan Thompson, Deer Lodge, Cody Johannes, Huntley Project; Justice Betts, Missoula; McKenna Quirk, Missoula

National FFA Convention — Rylee Fisher, Shields Valley; Teasha Johnson, Victor; Kinsey Warner, Judith Gap

College Scholarships: 

Leave a Legacy — Kaleb Starr, Deer Lodge

Murdoch’s — Paytyn Wilson, Bainville 

Blue Shows Through — Trenton Braaten, Broadwater

Montana Agricultural Business Association/Montana Grain Elevator Association — Kyler Brown, Richey

Montana Land Reliance — Jerirca Bursik, Park City 

Vern Dahlstrom — Andee Baker, Park City

Association of Montana Turf, Ornamental and Pest Professionals — Amber Reiner, Kalispell

Lars Ronning — Jaycie Rau, Fairview

Dr. Max L Amberson — Brooke Johnson, Huntley Project 

Stockman Bank — Isaac Sponheim, Richey; Bethany Lyford, Kalispell. 

Though the amount of scholarship dollars awarded annually continues to grow, the Montana FFA Foundation still turns away two out of every three scholarship applicants. To learn more about contributing to the Montana FFA Leave a Legacy Scholarship fund, people can contact the foundation at 406-582-4118. 

2019 was the second consecutive year that the Montana FFA Foundation awarded Supervised Agricultural Experience grants for students to expand their agribusiness ventures or to start new entrepreneurship or agriscience research projects.

SAE Grants are a special project funded in partnership with the Gianforte Family Foundation, Wells Fargo, and Cross Charitable Foundation.

The Montana FFA Foundation announced the following grant recipients:

SAE Grants: Tucker Collins, Belgrade; Skyler Daniels, Laurel; McKenna Quirk, Missoula; Alice Fouts, Red Lodge; Margot Kuntz, Red Lodge; Cole Taylor, Opheim; Alexis Williams, Red Lodge; Megan Bradshaw, Corvallis; Lauren Niebur, Big Timber; Jayna Jackson, Corvallis; Jaylyn Jackson, Corvallis; Makayla Dines, Geraldine; Claire Standley, Missoula; Freya Jones, Missoula; Jarrett Bowman, Missoula; Martina Madsen, Corvallis; Jade Cecrle, Chinook; Riley Prather, Big Timber; Alyssa Gruszie, Chinook; Preston Hastings, Cascade

Recipients hope to utilize their SAE Grants to fund projects in any area from Ag Communications to Repair and Maintenance. For example, Megan Bradshaw hopes to double the size of her chapter’s honey bee colony using her grant. This expansion will allow the Corvallis FFA Chapter to conduct research about the bees, engage with community members of all ages, and provide an income with which they will use to travel to competitions and promote chapter events.

In addition to SAE Grants, Helping Hands Grants and Bulls for Blue Grants are also awarded to FFA members. The Helping Hand Grant funds chapters who will be implementing service projects within their communities. The Bulls for Blue Grant also funds SAE projects, but are specifically for student projects in the area of beef production and are funded by Montana seedstock beef producers. Those recipients have not been selected at this time.

Donors for scholarships, Bulls for Blue Grants, SAE Grants, and Helping Hands Grants can be found on the Montana FFA website at http://www.montanaffa.org.

The Montana FFA Foundation supports 97 local FFA chapters across the state of Montana, representing over 5,000 members. The Montana FFA Foundation’s mission is to cultivate partnerships, promote awareness and secure resources to enhance Agricultural Education and the Montana FFA Association.

Questions about Montana FFA scholarships and grants can be directed to Gwynn Simeniuk at 406-582-4118 or foundation@montanaffa.org, or visit the Montana FFA website at http://www.montanaffa.org.