FARM BUREAU AWARDS SCHOLARSHIPS
The Alaska Farm Bureau has awarded two scholarships to students pursuing
natural resources fields of study. Each scholarship is $2,000.00.
Seventeen highly qualified and deserving students applied this year, making the
final decisions difficult. The scholarships were awarded to Maya Chay of Kenai
and Theodore DeLaca of Fairbanks.
Mya Chay, daughter of Dan and Heidi Chay is enrolled in Brown University’s pre-
veterinary school where she is pursing a career as a large animal veterinarian.
Ms. Chay has been active in 4-H, sports, chorus, plays the violin, enjoys acting,
dancing, cooking and traveling. She has worked for U.S. Fish and Wildlife
Service as a lab assistant, the Alaska Department of Fish and Game as an
education assistant and an intern, at the Ridgeway Farm Greenhouses and the
U.S. Forest Service as a lab assistant. She will be working with Dr. Jerry
Nybakken, a Soldotna veterinarian this summer.
Theodore DeLaca is a graduate student at the University of Alaska-Fairbanks in
the School of Natural Resources and Agricultural Sciences. Mr. DeLaca has
been employed by USDA ARS and as a student employee for Dr. Miriam Karlson
and Dr. Mingchu Zhang. He is a member of the Fairbanks Farm Bureau Chapter
and the Alaska Community Agriculture Association. He has created a garden
club after school program at Two Rivers School and helped with the Learning
Landscape Project, a collaborative effort with the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service
to promote schoolyard wildlife habitat and outdoor classrooms. Together with his
wife, a teacher at Two Rivers School, they own a small family farm where they
grow various vegetable crops and livestock. They sell produce through a CSA
and the farmers market.
The Alaska Farm Bureau’s scholarship program is funded entirely through our
annual auction. Instead of the usual outcry auction we will be having a silent
auction this year during the Friday Forum and the Annual Meeting held on
November 12th and 13th at the Alpine Lodge in Fairbanks. The scholarships are
awarded in $2,000 increments and all auction proceeds are dedicated entirely to
the scholarship program. Left picture:Mya Chay; right picture: Theodore DeLaca.