Roy-area farms, taken in 2015. Photo: Chas Hundley
WASHINGTON COUNTY – Local students in high school and college who are pursuing an education in the fields of agriculture, education, nursing or vocational training are eligible for two scholarships offered by the Washington County Farm Bureau this year.
The awarded amounts start at $1,000, but “most awarded amounts are more than that,” said Jacque Duyck Jones, a 4th generation Roy-area farmer and volunteer with the local Washington County Farm Bureau chapter of the Oregon Farm Bureau.
The Duyck family has been farming the same farm since 1907 in the Roy area, with a crop of kotata blackberries, blueberries, and perennial seed ryegrass, according to a 2016 Oregon Farm Bureau profile of Jones and her father, Larry Duyck.
The two scholarships, a long-time offering by the organization, are split into one offered to current high school students who will graduate in 2020 in Washington County, while the other is for current collegiate students.
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More information can be found at https://oregonfb.org/scholarships, which lists various scholarships offered by the different chapters throughout the state, as well as one offered on a statewide level, the Oregon Farm Bureau Memorial Scholarship, and another for students with associate membership in the Oregon Farm Bureau.
In 2019, the Washington County chapter awarded scholarships to four high schools, eight undergraduate students, and two graduate students in Washington County, according to Jones.
Applicants are asked a number of questions, ranging from traditional questions found in any scholarship application to the collegiate application asking applicants to write an essay on how the students course of study will impact Oregon agriculture.
The high school application asks students, among other things, to note how a Farm Bureau scholarship would help them achieve their goals.
The deadline for both applications is April 3, 2020 and must be sent to Country Financial Attn: WCFB Scholarship 885 SW Baseline, Hillsboro, OR, 97123. Once received, applications will be reviewed by the five-member Washington County Farm Bureau Scholarship Committee.
For more information, contact Jacque Duyck Jones at [email protected] or 503.997.0209.
Chas Hundley is the editor of the Banks Post and sister news publications the Gales Creek Journal and the Salmonberry Magazine. He grew up in Gales Creek and has a cat.
