Friends of the Fair to Award $12,000 in Scholarships; Deadline is March 1

By Kathy Keatley Garvey

SOLANO COUNTY, CA -- It pays to major in agriculture. Literally.

Friends of the Dixon May Fair will award a total of $12,500 in college scholarships to Solano County students enrolled in a California university or community college and who are majoring in agriculture or an agricultural-related field. The deadline to submit scholarships is March 1.

The Friends will award four scholarships for those enrolled in a four-year college, and three scholarships for those enrolled in a two-year college. Over the last 14 years, they’ve awarded $142,000 in college scholarships to Solano County students pursuing an agricultural-related career.

The top student in the four-year college category will receive the $3000 Ester Armstrong Memorial Scholarship, memorializing the former Dixon May Fair chief executive officer. Three other scholarships, at $2000 each, will be given in the four-year college category. For two-year college students, the awards are: the Jack Hopkins Memorial Scholarship of $1500; and two scholarships at $1,000 each.

The Friends of the Fair, an all-volunteer group headed by Donnie Huffman of Vacaville, is the fundraising arm of the Dixon May Fair and raises funds through the sale of beverages.

Only Solano County residents planning a career in agriculture of an agricultural-related field are eligible to apply, said Carrie Hamel of Dixon, the scholarship chair. They must be enrolled in or accepted for enrollment in a four-year accredited college or university or an accredited community college located in California. Applicants must be majoring in an agricultural-related field, which can encompass dozens of majors, including agricultural business, forestry, pomology, nematology, plant pathology, viticulture, wildlife and fisheries biology, and child, family and consumer science.

Hamel said the recipients are selected on their personal, civic and academic experience, academic standing, personal commitment and goals, leadership potential, civic accomplishments, and agricultural interests. Desired but not mandatory is 4-H, FFA or Grange experience.

All applicants must submit a personal statement of no more than two typed pages, double-spaced, explaining “why they are pursuing their desired career and what they hope to accomplish," Hamel said. The rules are at http://www.friendsofthefair.or... Applications must be on the official form (download from the website) and mailed to Scholarship Committee, Friends of the Fair Scholarship Committee, P.O. Box 242, Dixon, CA 95620 by or before 5 p.m., March 1.

For further information, access the Friends of the Fair website http://www.friendsofthefair.or... or contact schholarship chair Carrie Hamel at (707) 678-3187 or email her at hamelc@sbcglobal.net.

The committee also includes Vacaville residents Linda Molina, Tootie Huffman and Kathy Keatley Garvey. Huffman serves as the treasurer of Friends of the Fair.

Photo caption: The 2016 recipients of Friends of the Fair scholarships included Nikki Talken (far left) and Kyle Garlick (second from right), both of Dixon. With them are Donnie Huffman of Vacaville, president of the Friends of the Fair, and JoAn Giannoni of Dixon, former secretary and former scholarship chair. The new scholarship chair is Carrie Hamel of Dixon. Photo by Kathy Keatley Garvey