Pork Checkoff Announces Scholarships Now Available

All juniors and seniors in college who plan to pursue a career in swine production management or a relate field, and enroll in graduate school and major in a swine-related field, are invited to submit an application for one of 19 available scholarships sponsored by the Pork Checkoff, PIC and Pioneer.

Application guidelines should be followed and may be submitted online using the form at http://www.pork.org/Resources/1036/NationalPorkBoardScholarships.aspx. The deadline to submit applications is Oct. 1, 2010. Scholarship recipients will be notified in December 2010.

“This is an extremely important part of what we do on behalf of America’s pork producers,” says Mark Knauer, Animal Science director for the Pork Checkoff. “Encouraging young people to continue their education in swine-related fields helps to ensure we have a steady pipeline of experts in areas critical to the industry’s future success.”

The top application will be awarded a scholarship of $5,000, and a scholarship of $3,500 will be awarded to the first runner-up. All other scholarships awarded are $2,000.

Preference will be given to scholarship applicants who are:

• Members of a family currently in or associated with pork production;
• Members of a family associated with allied industry or the marketing segments of the pork industry;
• Active or past members of industry youth leadership development programs with emphasis on swine; and
• Experienced in previous swine-specific internships.

Direct specific questions to Lana Modlin at LModlin@pork.org or (515) 223-2609.