2021 SCHOLARSHIP WINNERS

The NC Strawberry Association’s Scholarship Program continues to grow!  Our award began with two $500 scholarships in 2011, and the program has had the good fortune of growing a little bit each year. This year the association awarded two scholarships of $2,000 each. The intent of this scholarship is to promote future leadership in the strawberry industry.
Funds for the scholarship come from member dues – $2 per membership – and funds raised each year at the auction during the Annual Strawberry Expo (excluding 2020 when our EXPO was cancelled due to COVID-19). Applicants should be high school seniors or current college students
accepted to or currently enrolled in a land grant university who are interested in or have declared a major in a program of study directly related to the strawberry industry (for example, small fruit production, marketing, food science, nutrition, entomology, agronomy, etc.).

 
 
 

Brianna Haynes is currently an undergraduate junior at North Carolina State University, where she is double majoring in both Crop & Soil Sciences and Horticultural Science with concentrations in Crop Biotechnology and Plant Breeding. She will also receive a regulatory science certificate upon graduation. Brianna is from the small town of China Grove, NC and is a first-generation college student. Brianna has always had an interest in plants and knew from a young age that NCSU and the agricultural industry is exactly where she belonged, despite growing up in a non-agricultural background.
Brianna started her agricultural career by joining her high school’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) chapter her freshman year and has remained an active alumni. Through FFA, she was able to participate in many competitions, win many awards, and serve as Vice President. However, Brianna’s favorite thing she did was designing and conducting three research projects on strawberries. The projects centered around maximizing strawberry yields in the school’s agronomy plots and project topics included: testing different colored plasticulture, different fertilizer trials, and testing different plant density spacing between plots. She won 1st place at the NC State FFA Convention for all three projects and then won a bronze rank, silver rank, and then 2nd place at the National FFA Convention in 2018. Through these research projects, she fell in love with working and conducting research on strawberries. As she was completing these strawberry projects, Brianna was also able to intern with an NCSU professor down at the Plants for Human Health Institute (PHHI) in Kannapolis, NC and attended two summer horticulture camps hosted by NC State University. Brianna’s love for research and working with plants led her to enroll at NCSU.
Brianna is currently in her second year as an undergraduate research assistant in a small fruits breeding lab at NC State, where they specialize in strawberries and caneberries. Through this lab, she has been able to work in the laboratory, greenhouses, high tunnels, and in the field. Brianna is also a horticulture research technician at Piedmont Research Station in Salisbury, NC where she works full-time over winter and summer breaks on field projects and upkeep of strawberry germplasm in the greenhouse. Brianna is also returning to PHHI this summer to work with Dr. Penny Perkins and her lab researcher, Dr. Gina Fernandez, and together as a team they will
complete studies on the berry varieties that have been crossed and grown. All of these experiences have helped Brianna grow into the person she is
today by providing hands-on experience in addition to her studies and tons of opportunities within the strawberry community.
After undergrad, Brianna plans to attend graduate school and pursue a doctorate degree in Horticultural Science. Although she likes working with berries, she is considering different crops to expand her knowledge and to have new experiences. Brianna’s dream job is to become a plant breeder or biotechnologist, where she can work in a lab and outside in the field equally. She would love to return back to PHHI to carry out post-doctoral research on berries or to become a full time professor, advisor, or researcher for NC State University. Taking over own current lab one day is another possibility. No matter what, Brianna has strong plans of staying in constant contact with the strawberry industry.

Noah Bowman is a senior at Oak Grove High School and he will be graduating from Oak Grove in June. Noah will be attending NC State University in the fall. At NC State, Noah will be majoring in Ag Business Management. He selected this major because of his background in agriculture and his passion for agriculture.
Noah’s background on his family farm has provided him the time and opportunity to learn about and appreciate agriculture. He works on his family’s strawberry and tobacco farm and has been working on the family farm most of his life, but especially during his high school years. Noah works on the farm approximately 10 hours a week during school he works 40+ hours per week during the remainder of the year. On the farm, Noah does everything from plowing ground to selling the strawberries. He really does enjoy the work on the farm, and that lead him into this career path.
Noah’s career goals include continuing the work on his family farm, and, hopefully, augmenting his farm income with other income in agriculture. Noah says that he looks at his grandfathers’ work history of working at Carolina Farm Credit while also working the family farm, and that combination, to him, looks like a similar path that he would like to follow. It’s Noah’s hope that he can continue their family strawberry farm and can preserve the farm for the next generation. In their case, farming, and family, have gone hand in hand. Noah’s goal will be to educate himself at NC State, graduate, and put what he’s learned to work on their farm, raise a family on or near their farm, and also use his skills and experience to also work a secondary job related to agriculture. Noah says, if he can get all of those things accomplished, then he feels as though he’s done his best to make a good use of his money and time spent at NC State.