Farm Credit and Minorities in Agriculture, Natural Resources and Related Sciences (MANRRS) recently celebrated the 2024 Farm Credit VIP Scholars during the MANRRS National Conference in Chicago, Illinois.
Each year, Farm Credit offers competitive academic scholarships and provides special programming for outstanding MANRRS students with an expressed interest in Farm Credit and its mission. Scholarship recipients each receive a $1,000 academic scholarship, the opportunity to participate in the Farm Credit VIP track at the National MANRRS Conference, and travel compensation to attend the annual conference.
This year, Farm Credit selected 28 students from universities across the country to participate in the Farm Credit VIP Scholars program. These students expressed career interests in agriculture and beyond. Farm Credit proudly supports the future leaders of agriculture through this program, bringing together like-minded individuals seeking an opportunity to grow within the agriculture, engineering and technology industries.
After finding out she was accepted to the program, Alexia Powell, a senior at Prairie View A&M University studying plant and soil sciences, shared her excitement at being surrounded by peers with similar interests.
“The reason I applied to the Farm Credit VIP Scholar program was not only to learn about Farm Credit, but to also interact with more people within my network, develop my skills and get unique takeaways from this experience,” Alexia said.
Through this partnership, Farm Credit joins others in agriculture to raise awareness about the career opportunities available in agriculture and collaborates with MANRRS to help students build leadership skills.
“As a first-generation student it’s hard to find out about opportunities. Thanks to Farm Credit, this process has been a lot easier,” Juan Jaquez, a third-year student at the University of Idaho, said.
GreenStone Farm Credit Services also sponsored students from Michigan State University and Florida A&M University to attend the 2024 conference.
Opportunities for minority students in agriculture continue beyond the annual MANRRS National Conference. Each year, Farm Credit System associations attend MANRRS Regional Clusters and Opportunity Fairs to help recruit diverse candidates to the Farm Credit System and support their development. To build upon this already successful partnership, Farm Credit developed the Launching Leaders program. Any active MANRRS, HBCU student or recent graduate qualifies for the Farm Credit program, which provides a $3,500 stipend awarded to Farm Credit interns at any Farm Credit institution.
The 2024 VIP Scholars:
• Gillian Villa – Kansas State University
• Elijah Riley – University of Nebraska Lincoln
• Naidaly Gonzalez Miranda – University of Nebraska Lincoln
• Zenzile Samuels-Skinner – University of Nebraska Lincoln
• Gabriel Acevedo – University of Maryland
• Noah Lee – University of Maryland College Park
• Amiya Jenkins – Virginia Tech
• Laila Harris-Smith – Fort Valley State University
• Michelle Saint-Fleur – University of Florida
• Aliyah Smith – Virginia State University
• Aaliyah Cotton – Tennessee State University
• Gabrielle Cameron – Tennessee State University
• Kennedy Bentley – Tennessee State University
• Gerardo Martinez-Hernandez – California Polytechnic State University, San Luis obispo
• Madison Rudner – University of Idaho
• Juan Jaquez – University of Idaho
• Matrie Irving – Purdue University
• Hellen Vejerano – University of Arkansas
• Jakayla Allen – University of Kentucky
• Nikkira McCall – North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
• Jahnique Lys – Louisiana State University
• Alexia Powell – Prairie View A&M University
• Olivia Greenwood – Prairie View A&M University
• Christian Jacobs – Southern University and A&M College
• Kailynn Williams – Southern University and A&M College
• Jayden Turner – North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
• Leila Noufal – North Carolina Agricultural & Technical State University
• Mya Dixson – Mississippi State University
