During the Independent Professional Seed Association’s (IPSA) 2023 annual meeting, the IPSA board of directors awarded 10 scholarships to students across the U.S. to encourage younger generations to seek jobs in agriculture — and more specifically, the seed sector.
“I want to thank the members for pushing this out amongst your entire networks,” says Jeff Skemp, head of the IPSA education committee and client operations manager at Gro Alliance. “This is the first year that we’ve had multiple applicants come through that have noted on their application process that they were tied to a member company. A lot of these students sitting here have ties to your organizations, and as a group, we feel that’s really important.
“We want these kids back in the independent sector of the business,” Skemp adds.
Every year, the board gives out 10 $2,000 scholarships to students studying or applying to study in the field of agriculture. IPSA interviewed 20 students to get down to 10 students who deserved scholarships based on their achievements, community and agricultural involvement.
The scholarship winners were:
- Mallory Ames, a junior at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign pursuing a dual degree in agriculture business and agriculture education with a minor in Spanish.
- Shelby Basham, a sophomore at Southern Illinois University Carbondale double majoring in agriculture communication and agribusiness economics.
- Devin Devore, a junior at Iowa State University double majoring in agriculture business and agriculture & rural policy.
- Kimberly Dirksen, furthering her education by attending Purdue University to major in agribusiness management.
- Ashley Hagenow, a senior at the University of Minnesota studying agriculture communication and marketing with a minor in animal science and agriculture food and business management.
- Taylor Hartke, a master’s student pursuing a dual degree in strategic analytics and agribusiness economics.
- Emma Kuhns, a student at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign majoring in agriculture & consumer economics — public policy and law.
- Ian Latham, a junior at Iowa State University majoring in agriculture studies and international agriculture.
- Melissa Preston, a master’s student pursuing a master’s degree at Iowa State University.
- Ben Vos, a senior at Dordt University majoring in agriculture studies.
The Tom Burrus Memorial Scholarship
In addition to the nine scholarships IPSA awards, one scholarship carries a special meaning to IPSA members — the Tom Burrus Memorial Scholarship, given on behalf of Tom Burrus by his family at Burrus Seed.
“Tom Burrus was an integral part of IPSA — he loved the organization and loved being involved,” says Tim Greene, president of Burrus Seed and son-in-law of Tom Burrus. “Tom loved the independent seed sector and enjoyed visiting with scholarship recipients and learning about their interests and goals.”
Greene and his family awarded Mallory Ames with 2023’s Tom Burrus Memorial Scholarship.
“Mallory was an intern for us early in her college career, and she’s done a lot of impressive things,” Greene says. “She’s pursuing 23 credit hours while holding down a job, and she’s been very active with her sorority Sigma Alpha. She’s a go-getter. I encourage a lot of these young people to try various things while in school, and Mallory is a great example.”
