Greene County High School junior Noelle Gray was selected as the state winner out of 532 submissions in the 2014 GROWMARK essay contest. She will receive a $500 scholarship and the Greene County High School FFA chapter, of which Gray is a member, will receive $300 cash.
This is the 21st year for the program, sponsored by the GROWMARK System and FS member cooperatives, in conjunction with state FFA leaders. This year’s topic was “Promoting Sustainability and Conservation of Natural Resources.” Students were asked to focus on three questions: What does sustainability mean? Why should farmers be concerned with conservation and sustainable practices? and What role do cooperatives play in this effort?
Essays were expected to be about 500 words. The GROWMARK sponsors the essay contest for students in Iowa, Wisconsin and Illinois, with one winner in each state.
“Noelle is an exceptional student. She excels at everything she does and I’m very excited for her,” Schmidt said. “Our chapter is full of exceptional students,” she added.
Noelle Gray is the daughter of Bret and Melisse Schilling of rural Jefferson.
