The Wellington Federation of Agriculture has announced the winners of this year’s Ray Baptie Memorial Bursaries.
The 2012-13 recipients are Courtney Rogerson of RR1 Fergus, Jessica Giles of Elora and Adam Weber of RR3 Clifford.
These annual scholarships are awarded to Wellington County students pursuing post secondary studies in agriculture. The students will be officially recognized at the WFA annual general meeting on Nov. 1 at the Fergus Legion.
Courtney Rogerson is enrolled at the University of Guelph in the Bachelor of Science in Agriculture program, majoring in animal biology. Her farm obligations take up much of her time, yet Rogerson still finds time to be an active community leader, and is involved with the Wellington County Plowmen’s Association, Alma United Church, and Fergus Fall Fair.
She was a previous winner of the Grand River Agricultural Society Scholarship and was chosen to ride at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair for Prince Charles’ visit in 2009. In the future, she aspires to be accepted to study at the Ontario Veterinary College and become a large animal veterinarian.
Jessica Giles is also in the Bachelor of Science in Animal Biology program at the University of Guelph. Giles also hopes to become a veterinarian, or work in animal nutrition, equine chiropractic, or animal research. She has finished a co-op placement at the Ontario Veterinary College Large Animal Clinic where she worked with cattle, poultry, swine, alpacas, sheep, donkeys, etc. Her community involvement has included volunteering for many organizations and in 2013 she was a College Royal Beef Show director.
Adam Weber is enrolled at the Ontario Agricultural College, Ridgetown campus, where he is in the Agriculture Diploma Program.
At Ridgetown, Weber has learned about new technologies and consumer demand and upon completion, his future plans are to return home and take over the family farm operations. Moving forward, he feels that consumers are the backbone of agriculture, and plans to have very close relations with them, promoting both his products and agriculture in general.
In his spare time, Adam has been an avid minor hockey player, helps out with his church and has volunteered at the Harriston Fair.
The Wellington Federation of Agriculture’s board of directors states it is “honoured to support these energetic, young minds.”
If anyone knows of a student worthy of next year’s scholarship, they should contact Lisa Hern at wfa@wightman.ca or phone 519-848-3774 prior to the Oct. 31 deadline.
