Scholarship Winners Are Taking Unique Paths to Ag Careers

The two national winners of the 2019 Syngenta Accelerating a Generation (AG) Scholarship prove that growing up on a farm isn’t always a prerequisite for pursuing a career in ag. Instead of experiences in rural communities, their inspirations were the National FFA Organization (FFA) and Norm Borlaug, the American plant pathologist and geneticist.

For bachelor’s-level scholarship winner Adrienne Blakey, her participation in FFA — especially her engagement in public speaking events — “fueled an unquenchable interest in plant biotechnology and opportunities to learn from industry leaders I interviewed.”

“Both Adrienne and Nick have inspiring stories of how they found their way into the world of agriculture. I’m extremely impressed by their passion and perseverance in pursuit of their professional goals in this industry.”

For master’s-level scholarship winner Nick Lord, Borlaug’s efforts to dramatically increase worldwide food production made a lasting impression on him when he first learned about them in his Advanced Placement biology class. Borlaug received the Nobel Prize for his work in 1970. “This highlighted the power of genetics and, more importantly, its potential to make an impact,” Lord says.

Blakey and Lord wrote about these important career influences in their essays for 2019’s AG Syngenta Scholarship program.

Blakey is currently pursuing a degree in plant and soil sciences and agricultural communications at Oklahoma State University in Stillwater, Oklahoma. While growing up, her immediate family moved frequently, but her grandparents operated their fourth-generation family farm. “I was a city girl who visited the farm every so often,” she says.

When her family eventually moved to the outskirts of a city closer to her grandparents, she joined the local FFA chapter and accepted leadership roles in local and state FFA organizations.

In his essay, Lord writes, “Having been raised in the suburbs of northern Virginia, I had very little exposure to agriculture growing up.” Lord is currently pursuing a degree in crop and soil science with a focus on soybean breeding at Virginia Polytechnic Institute and University in Blacksburg, Virginia.

“Both Adrienne and Nick have inspiring stories of how they found their way into the world of agriculture,” says Vern Hawkins, regional director of Syngenta, North America. “I’m extremely impressed by their passion and perseverance in pursuit of their professional goals in this industry.”

As part of its AG Syngenta Scholarship program, Syngenta annually awards $20,000 in scholarships to students pursuing bachelor’s or master’s degrees in crop-related disciplines. Blakey and Lord each received $6,000 in awards as national prizewinners and an additional $1,000 as regional winners. Six more regional winners also earned $1,000 scholarships.

For more information on the 2020 AG Syngenta Scholarship, visit www.syngenta-us.com/scholarships.