Farm Credit West provides credit to producers of food, fiber and flowers in parts of California and Nevada. Given this specialized market, he future of Farm Credit West is closely tied to the viability of agriculture in its service area. Farm Credit West’s Board and management are committed to support the role of education in agriculture's future.

• Each school year (July 1 through June 30) FCW awards $1,000 scholarships based on the criteria in the "GUIDELINES" section below. The number of scholars selected varies.
• Scholarships are annually renewable for a maximum of four years based on the scholar's qualifying enrollment and maintenance of academic excellence.
• FCW reserves the right to discontinue this program at any time without notice to any party, with a minimum of six months notice to "renewing" scholars.

2007 is the Scholarship Program's 14th year. In that time, eighty-four Farm Credit West scholars have been selected. By the time the scholars selected in 2007 leave the program, Farm Credit West will have provided about $310,000 in assistance to those eighty-four scholars.

Once again, Farm Credit West received a number of excellent scholarship applications in 2007. A committee of directors and management selected eight new scholars in mid 2007. They are:

• Melissa Droogh (Lemoore)
• Gregory Fernandes (Tulare)
• Taylor Ludwick (Bakersfield
• Tricia Harlan (Riverdale)
• Jake Nace (Tipton))
• Julien Parsons (Bakersfield)
• Julie Rose (Lemoore)
• Jordan Van Grouw (Visalia)
  

Continuing Scholars
The continuing scholars selected in previous years are:

• Megan Giacomazzi (Hanford)
• Timothy Holtermann (Wasco)
• David Phillips (Visalia)
• Tyler Souza (Tulare)
• John Stenderup (Bakersfield)
• Matthew Thomson (Buttonwillow)
• Daniel Willems (Arroyo Grande)
• Amie Aguiar (Tulare)
• Amanda Collins (Paso Robles)
• Kendall Correia (Tulare)
• Jessica Darway (San Luis Obispo)
• Mark Diener (Five Points)
• Bailey Draxler (Hanford)
• Dustin Quist (Fresno)
• E. Amanda Rankin (Caliente)
• Stephanie Van Beek (Tipton)
• Megan Cardoza (Tipton )
• Kurtis Kobara (Arroyo Grande)
• Dustin-Jerald Hollister (Lompoc)
• Spencer Reitkerk (Corcoran)
• Alison Van der Kar (Carpinteria)
• Joshua Wiebe (Reedley)
  

Guidelines

• Scholars must be a FCW customer's dependent (as defined by the IRS), a FCW customer, or a FCW customer's spouse. ("Customers" must have had an active loan with FCW within two years of the date of application.)
• Scholars must exhibit academic excellence as demonstrated by the scholar's academic record in high school, junior college, or college. (Minimum G.P.A. of 3.0 on a 4.0 scale.) This assessment requires submission of a transcript.
• Scholars must be a full-time student at a junior or four-year college or be an entering full-time student at a junior or four-year college. ("Full-time" = 25 semester units per year or 36 quarter units per year.)
• Scholars’ declared major must be directly related to agriculture (e.g., crop science, animal science, ag economics, ag education, agribusiness, international agriculture, ornamental agriculture, food science, soil science, dairy science, agricultural engineering, nutrition, fruit science, viticulture, enology, etc.).
• Applicants will provide a complete package of available background, education, and career plan information. Applicants will be evaluated in large part based on the applicant's potential contributions to agriculture in FCW's service area.
  

• The most current scholarship application is linked below, as are program guidelines. Applications must be submitted on a Farm Credit West Scholarship form by June 16, 2008 to:

  Farm Credit West Administrative Office
  P. O. Box 631
  2929 W. Main St., Suite A
  Visalia, California 93279

  Scholarship Application
  Scholarship Guidelines

More Information

For more information or questions, contact Bruce Robinson, Chief Financial Officer via E-mail or at 559.636.8361.

© 1999-2007 Farm Credit West, ACA. All rights reserved.