Friends of the Fair Awards $12,500 in College Scholarships for Ag Majors

BY FRIENDS OF THE DIXON MAYFAIR

The Friends of the Dixon May Fair has awarded $12,500 in college scholarships to seven Solano County students seeking careers in an agricultural field.

Jordan Dosker of Vacaville, an animal science major at California Polytechnic University, San Luis Obispo, is the recipient of the Esther Armstrong Memorial Award Scholarship, totaling $3000. The award memorializes fair industry veteran Ester Armstrong of Rockville, a former director of the California Division of Fairs and Expositions who served as interim CEO of the Dixon May Fair from 2006-2009. She died in May 2009 of cancer. 

Kyle Garlick  of Dixon, an ag business major at Butte College, won the $1,500 Jack Hopkins Memorial Award. The scholarship honors a longtime supporter of the Dixon May Fair.

Dosker and Garlick and four other recipients of college scholarships were honored at a recent ceremony on the fairgrounds.

Others receiving scholarships in the four-year college category were Stephanie Calestini, a 2011 Dixon High School graduate majoring in agriculture at Cal Poly; Emily Lamb, a  2013 Armijo High School graduate studying animal nutrition at Cal Poly; Maria Kogler, a 2013 graduate of Rio Vista High School who will be attending California State University Chico. Each received $2000.

In the two-year community college category, two young women each received $1000: Danielle McCants, a graduate of Vacaville High School who is studying equine dentistry and animal science at Sacramento City College; and Kaycie Shea Reeb, a 2013 graduate of Dixon High School who will be attending Solano Community College and then transferring to Sacramento State College. McCants and Reeb received $1000.

The Friends, an all-volunteer organization led by Donnie Huffman of Vacaville, raises funds by selling beverages at the Dixon May Fair. They use the proceeds for building and grounds improvements on the fairgrounds, exhibitor awards, and college scholarships. Since 2007 the Dixon-based organization has awarded $132,500 in college scholarships to Solano County students pursuing an agricultural-related career.

Dosker, who plans to be a large animal veterinarian, recalls spending last summer “shadowing a small animal vet in her office and shadowing a large animal vet on her ranch calls. They each possessed an intriguing atmosphere, but pregnancy checking, bull testing and giving calf vaccinations really caught my attention.” She said the Cal Poly Animal Science program focuses on livestock care “and there are many different opportunities to interact with horses and cattle, both of which have peaked my interest.”

She hopes to “return to Solano County and be a voice for the livestock community.”

Calestini plans to receive a bachelor of science degree in agricultural science from Cal Poly, where she is a second-year student. She plans to obtain a teaching credential with the goal of becoming “an agriculture teacher in my hometown and give back to the community that raised me.” A longtime exhibitor at the Dixon May Fair as both a member of 4-H and FFA, she reared market labs. “I feel that California agriculture is overlooked and at times taken for granted,” she wrote. “I am eager to learn more about the industry that drives our state and allows us to survive.”

Lamb, active in the Vaca Valley 4-H Club, Vacaville, credits 4-H with inspiring her to pursue her career of animal nutritionist. “I have had the opportunity to meet many wonderful people through this program and been able to talk to people involved in the sheep industry first-hand, she said.  “Livestock is now a passion for me and each year I feel as if I am able to learn more and more,” said Lamb, who hopes to own a lamb ranch. “I would love to operate lamb ranch so I can still be involved in some way with 4-H because I think the program really helps out youth and it helped me find my spark.” She served as the Vacavile Youth Area Representative on the Solano County 4-H Leaders Council.

Kogler, a 2013 Rio Vista High School graduate who will be majoring in agriculture education at California State University, Chico, has been involved in goat projects as a member of the Rio Vista 4-H Club and the Rio Vista FFA. “While some do not find their calling until college, I found my passion and future career in my junior year of high school…I discovered my love for agriculture, specifically agriculture education.”

Garlick was active in both 4-H and FFA in Dixon and raised hogs, showed horses and lambs at both the Dixon May Fair and the Solano County Fair. “The whole fair experience has changed my life by teaching me how to be more responsible and not being afraid to venture out of my comfort zone.” During his senior year of high school, he was an exchange student in Argentina for one semester. “In Argentina, I attended a dairy school where half of the day we had normal school work, and the other half of the day we worked on the dairy plant learning how to make yogurt, milk and cheese. This experience really helped me see the agricultural world in many different ways,” he said.

Reeb, who graduated from Dixon High School this year, lists Solano Community College as “currently attending,” and plans to transfer to Sacramento State College, Sacramento.  At Dixon High, she was active in the Agriculture and Industrial Trade (AGI) Academy and a longtime member of 4-H, FFA and Girl Scouts. Her goal is to be a high school ag teacher, emphasizing animal care, welding and crop production. She recalled that her paternal grandfather owned a pesticide company and “told me stories of checking and maintaining crops. He shared the pros and cons of pesticide usage, and the threat of crops being devastated by a season’s insect population.”

McCants, a 2011 graduate of Will C. Wood High School and a sophomore at Sacramento City College, was active in the 4-H program and sowed and raised animals for the Dixon May Fair and Solano County Fair. She is currently competing in the National Intercollegiate Rodeo Association, specializing in barrel racing. Her goal is to become a veterinarian and then pursue a career in equine dentistry “to become an animal scientist,” focusing on health care for horses. “As an animal scientist, I would like to develop my own line of equine health products, with a main focus on rodeo horses’ needs," she said.

Scholarship chair JoAn Giannoni, secretary of the Friends of the Fair, praised the recipients as “outstanding.” Judging criteria included broad personal, civic and academic experience; academic standing; personal commitment and goals; leadership potential; civic accomplishments; and chosen field in the areas of agriculture.”  She said that 4-H, FFA or Grange experience is desired, but not mandated.

The scholarship committee is comprised of Giannoni; Tootie Huffman, treasurer of the Friends; John Howard and Kathy Keatley Garvey of Vacaville; and Carrie Hamel of Dixon. The deadline to apply for next year’s scholarship is March 1. More information is on the Friends’ website at http://www.friendsofthefair.org/