Nevada County Picayune and Gurdon Times Newspaper Archive

McKinnon Earns Purina Scholarship For Work In FFA

The National FFA Organization presented Katie McKinnon of the Gurdon High School FFA chapter with a Purina Mills scholarship in the amount of $1,000. The scholarship is sponsored by Purina Mills, Inc. as a special project of the National FFA Foundation, Inc.

McKinnon plans to use the funds to pursue a degree in Animal Science at Southern Arkansas University. McKinnon's parents are Ed and Robbie McKinnon of Gurdon. McKinnon's advisor is Stacey Stone.

This scholarship is one of 850 awarded through the National FFA scholarship program during 1996.

One hundred ninety-five corporate sponsors contributred more than one million dollars to support this program. This is the 13th year that scholarships have been made available through the National FFA Foundation by businesss and industry sponsors to reward and encourage excellence and enable students to pursue their eduational goals.

Scholarship recipients were selected from more than 7,325 applicants from across the country. Selections were based on the applicant's academic record, FFA and other school and community activities, supervised agricultural experience program in agricultural education, career plans and financial need.

FFA is a national organization of 444,497 members preparing for leadership and careers in the science, business and technology of agriculture. The organization has 7,264 local chapters located throughout the United States, Puerto Rico, Guam and the Virgin Islands.

FFA's mission is to make a positive difference in the lives of students by developing their potential for premier leadership, personal growth and career success through agricultural eduation. Local, state and national activities and award programs provide opportunities for students to apply knowledge and skills learned in the classroom.