Local students among recipients of MGGA and MGF 2024 scholarships

Press release

The Montana Grain Growers Association and the Montana Grains Foundation announced the recipients of their college scholarships for 2024-2025.

The Montana Grain Growers Association $1,000 scholarship winners are:

Reinhard Bold is a senior at Havre High School and planning to attend Montana State University-Northern to pursue a degree in agricultural operations technology. He strives to take on the family farm and ranch when the time comes.

Rhett Wolery grew up on a family farm in Rudyard. He is currently a crop science major with an ag business minor and a precision ag minor at Montana State University in Bozeman. He plans to pursue a career as an agricultural consultant in northern Montana.

Ty Backen is a senior at Chester-Joplin-Inverness High School. He plans to attend Montana Tech to study software engineering. He is passionate about online coding and hopes to work on video games and things of that nature.

Emma Lou Slivka grew up on a farm and ranch outside of Winifred and planning to attend Montana State University in Bozeman for a degree in agricultural communications. She is passionate about advocating for agriculture.

Kyona Yeager is a senior at Fairfield High School and planning to attend school at Northern Oklahoma College to receive her associate degree with high honors while judging livestock at a high level. She then plans to attend Oklahoma State University to double major in agriculture education and elementary education.

The Montana Grains Foundation offered four $2,500 scholarships, two for undergraduate students selected by the MSU College of Agriculture, and two selected by the Montana Grains Foundation board The Montana Grains Foundation selected student winners are:

Kaelin Smith is currently a graduate student at Montana State University working toward a master’s degree in entomology. She is involved with trials to assess the host plant preference of wheat stem sawfly and wireworms in different varieties of spring and winter wheat. She will also be assessing the viability of remote sensing technology as a decision-making tool for sawfly and wireworm, in addition to testing two insecticidal seed treatments. Smith will receive the Lola Raska Scholarship.

Chloe Hinson received her bachelor’s degree in microbiology and utilizing her degree of molecular knowledge to crop plant science. She worked as research assistant at the University of Maryland and a full-time lab technician investigating how to improve apple postharvest physiology and marketability. She is currently pursuing a master’s degree in plant physiology and chose Montana State University for the excellent plant science program.