College of Ag Student Awarded National Scholarship 

USU student Sara Vandenbos was recently awarded the National Association of Agricultural Educators Upper Division Agricultural Education Scholarship, sponsored by Delmar Cengage Learning. Only fifteen scholarships are awarded nationally each year and it has been many years since a USU student has been selected.

To be eligible for the scholarship, applicants must be agricultural education majors with intentions of becoming agriculture teachers and be completing student teaching within the next year. In addition to the eligibility requirements, scholarships are awarded based on GPA, the student’s leadership and service activities, and on an essay about their desires to teach agriculture.

Sara Vandenbos is from Meridian, Idaho, where she served as served as the Idaho FFA Association president in 2006-2007. In 2007, Sara transferred to USU from the University of Idaho as an agricultural education major.

“Utah State University just fit perfectly with all the requirements I wanted in a school. I came up for a visit and was treated like a long lost friend in the Agricultural Systems Technology and Education Department by Drs. Brian Warnick and Rudy Tarpley,” Sara said. “Their motivation and encouragement for the future of educators prompted me to transfer to USU.”

While here, Sara, served as Vice president of Alpha Tau Alpha and as President of the USU Collegiate FFA chapter. Also during her USU experience, she had the opportunity to represent the West and USU by going to China and Vietnam with 11 other college students from around the U.S. to learn first-hand about international agriculture through the International Collegiate Agricultural Leadership program.

When asked what prompted her to choose agricultural education as a career, Sara said, “I took four years of agricultural education classes in high school. My teacher, Mr. Steve Wilder, showed a genuine interest in me and the rest of his students. He could be found before and after school preparing teams for competitions, helping students with homework, or just offering a kind ear to students who needed someone to listen. I learned much about myself and grew so much [during] my years in that agricultural class room. I chose agricultural education because I wanted to make the same difference in the lives of my students as Mr. Wilder made in my own life.”

“I [specifically] wanted to be an ag educator because America is loosing appreciation of its ag roots. We laugh about a saying that is commonly heard in agriculture circles: 'Naked and hungry-- that's where you would be without agriculture!' What better way to show students the importance of agriculture in their lives and future than to teach them while they are in high school and stand on the threshold of their adult lives.”

“My ultimate goal is to see my students succeed in their high school endeavors but also into their adult lives. If I can noticeably help a student succeed I will know my job was complete,” she said.

Sara is currently working as the Connections Student Coordinator in the Office of Retention and First Year Experience. She will student teach in Virginia during the spring 2010 semester where she will join her husband Paul who is stationed there with the military.

Sara said she has her anxieties about teaching, but that, “USU has given me that necessary foundation and push into the right direction. I know I have the necessary tools to go out and student teach this spring and follow that with a teaching position. I have learned not only the subject material but also how to teach it. Utah State has opened my eyes to entirely new things I never thought were possible.”

Student advisor Brian Warnick said, “Sara is an outstanding student and will be a highly effective teacher of agriculture. She will undoubtedly make a positive difference the lives of students as she enters the profession. She is well deserving of this recognition and is a great example of the outstanding students in the agricultural education program at Utah State University.”