Cattlegrowers Present Scholarships
he qualified for the national land judging competition in Oklahoma, and was seventh in the nation his junior year. When he is not busy with school activities, Knight helps out our New Mexico students – Kasyn on his family farm, raising hay, and on his Creighton, Elida; Jason Knight, Logan; grandparents’ cattle ranch. He is the son of Paiton Owensby, Folsom; and Ashley Justin and Cheryl Knight. Selman, Hobbs; received college scholarPaiton Owensby, Folsom, received a ships from the New Mexico Cattle Growers’ $500 college scholarshipfrom the NMCGA’s Association (NMCGA) during the recent Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Committee Joint Stockmen’s Convention held in (YCLC). She is the fifth generation to grow Albuquerque. up on the family’s cow/calf and yearling “We are very proud of these young men stocker operation. She is a senior at Des and women, and wish them they best as Moines High School, where she has been they continue their education and careers,” active in volleyball, basketball, track, FFA, said Tom Sidwell, NMCGA President, Tucum- FCA and the National Honor Society cari. “We want to congratulate them on throughout high school. She is a nine-year their accomplishments thus far, and look member of the Folsom 4-H Club, where she forward to hearing about their future is currently vice-president, as well as serving successes.” Creighton received a $1000 college scholarship from Purina Mills. She grew up on her family’s cattle ranch near Elida, and is studying Agriculture Business at Eastern New Mexico University. She and her sister Kynzi operate K&K Cattle partnership, where they run about 70 head of commercial black and Charolais cross cattle. In addition, she has a full-time position at the family’s business, Creighton’s Town and Country. She is the daughter of Garland and Leslie Creighton. Jason Knight, Logan, received a $1000 college scholarship from Purina Mills. In high school, he has been active in sports, including basketball, football and baseball, Paiten Owensby (L) received her NMCGA scholarhip and FFA. In FFA, he shows steers, sheep and from the Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Committee. goats and judges land and homesite. Twice, The award was presented by Kendal Wilson (R).
F
as FFA Chapter President. Her FFA activities include the county fair’s production steer contest which covers many aspects of cattle production, and which she won this past year. After graduation, she plans to attend a junior college to continue her livestock judging career and pursue a degree in Agricultural Communications. She is the daughter of Seth and Dawna Owensby. Ashley Selman, Hobbs, received a $500 college scholarship from the NMCGA’s Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Committee (YCLC). She is a junior in the Honors College at Texas Tech University majoring in cellular and molecular biology. Her current interests are emergency medicine, surgery and/ or immunology. Selman graduated from high school as a member of the Phi Theta Kappa National Honor Society and with distinguished honors, ranked 12th out of a class of 509. She is currently on the Dean’s list at Texas Tech and working as a research assistant to Texas Tech professor Dr. Wang, who is researching the connection between diet and chronic diseases (diabetes, cardiovascular disease) and is a pioneer in using biocompatible and biodegradable nanocarriers to enhance bioactivities of phytochemicals and nutrients to prevent and treat these diseases. She also plans to continue the family business of cattle ranching, farming, and our Purina feed dealership. In addition to a future career as a physician, she plans to continue the family’s Purina feed dealership, as well as cattle ranching and farming. She is the daughter of Jim and Susan Selman. This year because of the help of sponsors like Purina Animal Nutrition; Purina dealers Bunks Feed Barn, Hobbs; Circle S Feed Store, Carlsbad; Cortese Feed Supply, Ft. Sumner; Creighton’s Town & Country, Portales; Dickson Implement Co., Tucumcari; Gary & Ginger Creighton, Portales; Horse N Hound Livestock & Farm Supply, Las Cruces; and the NMCGA Allied Industries Committee and Young Cattlemen’s Leadership Committee, the NMCGA was able to award four scholarships totaling $4000 to New Mexico students. “These students all have strong roots in agriculture, understand our industry and way of life, and are planning to remain involved as they pursue their future studies and careers. We couldn’t be prouder to help them pursue their dreams,” Sidwell said. College gets a little more expensive each year while the economy seems to get a little tighter, and with this scholarship, we hope tohelp ease that burden. We truly appreciate the help of our sponsors.”
▫
44
MARCH 2020
