ABILENE, Texas — Every February, the Abilene Chamber of Commerce's Agriculture Committee hosts an agriculture scholarship luncheon to raise funds for area high school students seeking to continue their education in an agriculture-related field.
A press release from the committee announced the 2020 agriculture scholarship recipients:
Tyler Beard of Albany High School in Albany
Braelyn Bevel of Haskell High School in Haskell
Kourtney Gibson of Haskell High School in Haskell
Cameron Poteet of Ballinger High School in Ballinger
“As the current chair of the Chamber’s Agriculture Committee, I would like to congratulate this year’s recipients,” Amanda Hatchett, Denton Valley Farms and Hatchett & Co Real Estate, said. “We appreciate the businesses and individuals who help us each year to support one of the foundational issues that our committee has worked hard to achieve over the years. Our youth who are involved in agriculture now are our future and it’s important that we work to continue the education of our industry.”
The selected students will each receive $1,000 to the college of their choice, and were required to apply stating their extracurricular activities, work experience and describe their future agriculture career goals.
“Agriculture has a billion dollar impact on the Big Country economy annually, and the Chamber is proud to play a small part in ensuring that we have food and fiber for future generations,” Doug Peters, Abilene Chamber president and CEO.
Recipient bios:
Tyler Beard is the son of Susie and Chris Beard. He was active in multiple extracurricular activities at Albany High School including FCA, FFA, student council, track, baseball and football. He has received the Top Hand Award-FFA, participated in the Shackelford County Youth and Livestock Show, and was a participant at the state level in cotton, wildlife, environment and natural resources science teams for three years.
Beard plans to attend Tarleton State University to pursue a degree in agribusiness.
Braelyn Bevel is the daughter of Kendra and Brad Bevel. She was involved in FFA serving in various capacities such as greenhand secretary, chapter reporter and chapter president. As a third-generation farming family member, she was actively involved in extracurricular activities in her high school career including National Honor Society, student council, UIL academics, FCCLA, golf, cross country and basketball.
Bevel will be attending Texas Tech University in the fall where she hopes to obtain a degree in pre-med.
Kourtney Gibson is the daughter of Kristi and Chad Gibson. She was very actively involved in FFA throughout her high school career qualifying for state in agriculture issues and meat judging, as well as receiving the Haskell FFA greenhand award and the Texas FFA Lone Star degree. She was actively involved in basketball, track, cross country, cheerleading, student council, National Honor Society, FCCLA and UIL academics.
Gibson will attend Texas Tech University in the fall to pursue a degree in agribusiness.
Cameron Poteet is the son of Wendi and Dwane Poteet. He was actively involved in FFA creed speaking, vet judging, rodeo, national shooting team, and tractor tech. He was also a member of the leadership advisory board, DEVA state qualifier on start-up business plan and served as class president his sophomore and junior years.
Poteet has been accepted into Texas A&M University and Tarleton State University and plans to major in agribusiness with a minor in financial planning.
For more information on the Chamber’s Agriculture Committee, go to abilenechamber.com.
