Commercial Agriculture Program
Summer 2012
MU Youth Pork Institute scholarship winners announced
By Marcia Carlson Shannon, swine nutritionist
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The two Missouri high school student winners of the 24th annual University of Missouri Youth Pork Institute scholarships were announced June 13 at the Animal Sciences Research Center on the University of Missouri campus in Columbia.
Julie Crouch, of Lincoln, in Benton County and Megan Smith, of Cabool, in Texas County each received $500 to study at MU and major in the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources (CAFNR) for scoring highest on the institute’s final exam.
The youths were among 17 high school students from around Missouri selected to attend the three-day immersion program, June 11-13, which taught about pork industry issues, swine science and career opportunities in the pork industry. The program also included off-campus tours of a pork processing plant, a swine farm, and the Missouri Pork Association headquarters.
The Pork Institute is designed to introduce high school students to career options in the swine industry and expose them to things that take place on campus, in animal science, and in the swine industry.
Classroom topics focused on the reasons behind bio-security, the business of raising hogs, use of computers in modern farming, nutrition, odor mitigation, current production practices, and carcass-pork quality evaluation. Off-campus tours took students to Triumph Foods pork processing plant in St. Joseph, the University of Missouri swine farm, and the Missouri Pork Association in Columbia.
Other participants included: Jonah Barry, Clarence; Loren Belshe, Henley; Austin Boland, Sweet Springs; Ben Brandt, Linn; Tanner Brundage, Jefferson City; Alex Buschjost, Jefferson City; Nicole Clark, Linn; Brandy Hall, Foley; Laine Hays, Monroe City; Michaela Heembrock, St. Clair; Joseph Limbach, Eugene; Olivia Loges, Sweet Springs; Tony Morgan, Lamar; Ariella Morrow, Jonesburg; Kaila Stefka, Linn; Jessie Fowler, Vandalia, Missouri Pork Association Ambassador; Stephanie Deeken, Linn, Missouri Pork Association Ambassador; Hailee Miller, Nevada, Missouri Pork Association Ambassador; and Marie Inglish, California, Missouri Pork Association Intern.
The Pork Institute is a partnership between CAFNR, which supplies the scholarships, the MU Division of Animal Sciences, which supplies staff, and the Missouri Pork Association, which provides financial support.