2024 Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association Inc.’s Scholarships
With all of the excitement in this season with our local 4-H/FFA Clubs, the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association is proud to be offering our ‘2024 Livestock Exhibitor Youth Scholarship’. Sponsored by the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association, Inc.
If you are interested in applying for any of these scholarships, download the packet, complete, and return by April 1, 2024. We are proud of all our future leaders that work hard to make their communities a better place through hard work, honesty, and loyalty to their friends, neighbors and world.
The Livestock Exhibitor Youth Scholarship
The Livestock Exhibitor Youth Scholarship is sponsored by the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Florida and Lee County Fair Association, Inc. This scholarship is open to current high school seniors who are actively exhibiting in any division of the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association, Inc’s Livestock Department. The Board of Trustees is proud of our area exhibitors and feels strongly about supporting our youth, while creating awareness and promoting agriculture and education in our district.
The Open Exhibitor Youth Scholarship
The Open Exhibitor Youth Scholarship is sponsored by the Board of Trustees of the Southwest Florida and Lee County Fair Association, Inc. This scholarship is open to current high school seniors who have participated 3 out of 4 high school years in any division of the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association, Inc. through the 2023 year. The Board of Trustees is proud of our area exhibitors and feels strongly about supporting our youth, while creating awareness and promoting agriculture and education in our district.
The Adam Barfield Market Animal Youth Scholarship
The Adam Barfield Market Animal Youth Scholarship is sponsored by the Southwest Florida and Lee County Fair Association, Inc. This scholarship is open to current high school seniors who exhibited in the Market Animal Division of the Livestock Program. The Adam Barfield Scholarship Fund was established in memory and honor of Adam Barfield, who was an Exhibitor with the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair and showed in the Market Animal Division.
The Agriculture Youth Scholarship
The Agriculture Youth Scholarship is sponsored by the Southwest Florida and Lee County Fair Association, Inc. This scholarship is open to current high school seniors who have participated in the Southwest Florida & Lee County Fair Association, Inc. The Board of Trustees is proud of our area exhibitors and feels strongly about supporting our youth, while creating awareness and promoting agriculture and education in our district.
Tips for Youth Scholarships
- Take the ACT and/or SAT more than once if you are not satisfied with your score. And take it during your senior year! A few more months of maturity and finishing your junior year classes help. If you don’t do well on one of the tests, take the other one. TAKE A PREP CLASS!
- Fill out every question of the application. Even a sentence or two about why you don’t have leadership roles/special circumstances/a job is better than leaving it blank.
- Get a job. Even if it’s baby-sitting, pet sitting or mowing lawns, it shows initiative.
- Take a leadership role. Even if it’s secretary of the Spanish Club, do it.
- Most schools require volunteer hours; be able to show how you made a difference during those hours. Instead of “handed out water during the marathon”, write, “worked the water station at the marathon promoting physical fitness, raising funds for charity and ensuring runners were well hydrated.
- Let your personality show, even if you have limited space. Try to describe how the activities you were involved in enriched your life. “I never thought I’d enjoy cleaning cages at the humane society shelter, but spending time with dogs made me realize how much joy they bring.
- Count the hours. For example, most marching band members spend 10-20 hours a week outside of class in rehearsal. Include those numbers.
- There are a lot of scholarships out there. Bug your guidance counselor for lists.
- Always show your application to a trusted adult before submitting.
- Do not lie, but the more information, the better.
- Find leadership roles in group activities, including sports teams, scouts and band. It helps.
- Have a “low” GPA or test score? Explain it. Text anxiety. Illness. Divorce. Working to help support family finances. Everything is taken into consideration.
- Adults want to help. There is money out there. Go for it!
Congratulations to our 2023 Scholarship Winners
2023 Livestock Exhibitor Youth Scholarship Recipients
Zane Rice – $2,000
Kelsey Dodd – $1,800
Britnee Patrick – $1,700
Lindsay Widener – $1,700
Katie Howard – $1,100
Ethan Watkins – $1,100
Haley Cassaday – $600
2023 Open Exhibitor Youth Scholarship Recipients
Ethan Watkins – $2,500
Lindsay Widener – $2,500
Katie Howard – $1,500
Britnee Patrick – $1,500
Haley Cassaday – $1,000
Kelsey Dodd – $1,000
2023 Adam Barfield Market Animal Youth Scholarship Recipients
Kelsey Dodd – $2,500
Ethan Watkins – $2,500
2023 Farm Bureau Youth Scholarship Recipients
Haley Cassaday – $500
Ethan Watkins – $500