Young Leader Scholarship Program

The MACA Young Leader Scholarship Program (YLSP) is designed to expose future agriculturalists to the crop protection industry and future career opportunities. Recipients will benefit from exposure and networking with MACA members for potential job opportunities as well as financial compensation. MACA members benefit by developing a talent pool of future industry leaders and through the heightened awareness of MACA within the participating universities.

 

Candidates

Candidates will be top-potential collegiate sophomores or juniors with an educational focus on agriculture. Candidates must be enrolled at one of the 14 Land-Grant Universities and have secured a summer internship within agriculture, preferably within the crop protection industry. Additionally, the selected recipient is expected to attend the MACA Annual Meeting,
September 7 – 9, 2021 in location TBD to participate and network with MACA members and to develop a deeper understanding of the crop protection industry.

Selection Process

MACA will notify the 14 universities via email announcing the program and explaining the goals. Then a MACA representative will follow-up with each school for help identifying candidates, encouraging participation and to raise awareness for the program. Each respective university will create a “committee” to review the applications submitted from qualifying students and then submit up to three applications to MACA for review. Once the applications are submitted to MACA, the Industry Communications committee will review the applications and select one recipient for a $2,000 scholarship to be awarded to each student via the university. (MACA will work with the universities to ensure the funding is provided to the student’s account.) The decisions by MACA are final. Previous winners are not eligible. Winners will be notified in Feb/March.

 

2020 Winners

 

Participating Universities (14)

• Colorado State University
• Iowa State University
• Kansas State University
• Michigan State University
• North Dakota State University
• Purdue University
• South Dakota State University
• Southern Illinois University – Carbondale
• The Ohio State University
• University of Illinois
• University of Minnesota
• University of Missouri-Columbia
• University of Nebraska-Lincoln
• University of Wisconsin

2020 Young Leader Scholarship Program Winners

• Elizabeth (Liz) Bland – Southern Illinois University – Carbondale
• Emily Kuhn – Purdue University
• Mara Weis – Iowa State University
• Katelyn (Katie) Fross – Kansas State University
• Darren Kulicamp – Michigan State University
• Madilyn (Maddie) Smith – University of Minnesota
• Abigail (Abby) Bertz – University of Missouri – Columbia
• Lily Woitaszewski – University of Nebraska – Lincoln
• Brendan Hanson – North Dakota State Universityy
• Madeline (Maddie) Weninger – South Dakota State University
• Ashley Nelson – University of Wisconsin-Madison

Scholarship Application

• Brief description stating what and where their summer internship will be and what are the main responsibilities
• Application Letter/Essay – 500 words or less stating why they believe they are worthy of this opportunity
• Resume
• “Unofficial” Transcript

Program Requirements

• Must be a sophomore or junior (60 hours completed by December 2020) with a preferred educational focus on agriculture
• Must have secured a 2021 summer internship within agriculture, preferably within the crop protection industry.
• Must attend the MACA Annual Meeting  –  September 7-9, 2021. All expenses will be paid through MACA.
• Must have a minimum of a 3.0 GPA while enrolled in college.

Scholarship

• $2,000 cash scholarship to be provided to the respective University for the scholarship recipient selected;
• Travel stipend to attend MACA Annual Meeting;
• Opportunity to be on YLSP panel at the MACA Annual Meeting; and
• Participate in program and networking with MACA members at Annual Meeting; and
• Have MACA member mentors/hosts.
• Must attend MACA Annual Meeting on September 7-9, 2021 in a location TBD. (MACA will pay for all expenses related to attending the meeting.)

Timeline

• End of January – nominations from universities due to MACA office.
• Mid-February – MACA committee to select recipients.
• Early March – Notify Universities of the recipients selected for scholarship and work with university officials to notify the recipients.
• March – August – Online meetings learning about MACA and career and professional development.
• Mid-April – Issue news release announcing scholarship recipients.
• July – Contact recipients regarding MACA Annual Meeting to coordinate travel plans and meeting details.
• MACA Annual Meeting,  September 7-9, 2021 in a location TBD – Attendance is required. (MACA will pay for all expenses related to attending the meeting.)