WILMINGTON — Two Clinton County high school graduates were awarded scholarships Wednesday night at the joint Clinton County Farm Bureau and Soil and Water Conservation District annual meeting.
East Clinton High School 2016 graduate Peyton Vest and Wilmington High School 2016 graduate Abigail Brunck were each awarded the $500 Coblentz Memorial Scholarship by the Clinton County Soil and Water Conservation District. The presentation was made by member Adam Coblentz.
Clinton County Farm Bureau President Beth Ellis also presented its annual scholarship award of $500 to Vest.
“This year we had a number of superstar students and a large stack of applicants. So this year, we chose two,” Coblentz told the audience.
Vest was captain of the East Clinton football team, and took part in the FB Ohio Leadership Legislative Conference and the Washington FB Leadership Conference. He is starting this fall at Wilmington College, where he is studying agriculture science.
Brunck was active in cheerleading and 4-H/agriculture activities and wants to be a teacher of agriculture education.
During the meeting, Ellis talked to the guests about the grassroots efforts taking place by the Clinton County Farm Bureau and urged that they continue. “We have had a very active board. We have been wanting to reach out into Clinton County to create a bigger presence. That does take time to do the right things and have an impact,” she said.
She added that the Farm Bureau has sponsored 4-H organizations with, “whatever they needed; we created the Wall of Champions; we’ll have a booth at the Corn Festival. Reaching out to youth, keeping youth strong and supporting them into the future is very important to us. Supporting groups and activities that give local farmers a voice is important.”
District Farm Bureau Trustee Dr. John Mossbarger talked about the state changes in the Ohio Farm Bureau, including the appointment of a new Executive Director, Adam Sharp, and a new president, Frank Burkett III of Massillon. He said this year there have been a number of accomplishments. “The Farm Bureau has contributed $2 million to farmers to improve water quality, the Ag Tourism Bill passed this year; CAUV changes were made to help farmers and additional changes are possible during the next lame duck session of the state legislature.”
Farm Bureau delegates were also elected to the 2017 annual meeting. There were: president Ellis along with Craig Cook, Belinda Cook and Mark Pickering.
Gary Brock, editor of Rural Life Today, can be reached at 937-556-5759 or on Twitter at GBrock4.
