Wiese Wins Scholarship for FFA Summer Leadership Retreat

Megan Wiese, who will be a senior next fall at MHS, was one of 17 students from across the state of South Dakota selected to receive an FFA Summer Leadership Retreat Scholarship. Wiese and Kelsey Fischer of Webster High School will share the Jason and Ashley Frerichs Scholarship. 

The students submitted essays to highlight the impact their ag teacher or adviser has had on them. An excerpt from Wiese’s essay says, “Ms. Sara Colombe puts her students before herself. I remember going back and forth on whether to apply for district office. She made sure I knew that if I didn’t get elected, it would not make me any less of a person. Districts rolled around, and I was a nervous wreck. She stood by me until I went into my interview and was there when I got out. When my name was called, she was the loudest person in those bleachers.”

Scholarships and Winners:
Leonard DeBoer Memorial Scholarship (2)
Bradyn Small, Langford Area and McKayla Dow, Tri-Valley

Walt Johnson Memorial Scholarship (11)
Andrew Pruitt, Belle Fourche; Rachel Brown, Bridgewater-Emery; Allyson Couser, Brookings; Hailey Stimson, Brookings; AJ Otten, Canton; Jacoby Costello, Garretson; Matthew Smith, Gregory County; Braylon Plucker, Lennox-Sundstrom; Sutton Plucker, Lennox-Sundstrom; Ellie Storm, Sturgis; and Macee McGregor, Webster

Jason and Ashley Frerichs Scholarship (2)
Megan Wiese, Milbank and Kelsey Fischer, Webster

Jason and Ashley Frerichs are members of the Kent and Faye Frerichs family of Wilmot chosen as South Dakota’s FFA Family of the Year in 2017. The award honors a family’s long term involvement in South Dakota FFA and agriculture education. The Frerichs family has supported FFA for nearly 60 years.

Rhonda Wosje Scholarship (2)
Ava Benson, Brookings and Gillda Larson, Lake Preston

The scholarships are made possible through the South Dakota FFA Foundation by Rhonda Wosje, Jason and Ashley Frerichs, and the Walt Johnson Memorial Fund. The memorial scholarships honor former FFA advisers Leonard DeBoer and Walt Johnson. DeBoer was an FFA adviser at Chamberlain for almost 40 years and Walt Johnson served as president of the South Dakota FFA Foundation.