Rayleigh Carter is Farm Credit AgVocator scholarship recipient
By: Shelia Mader
Monday morning before family, friends, and school personnel who have watched Rayleigh Carter come up through the Jackson County School System with success at every level further showed their support by watching her receive the AgVocator Scholarship..
Stacy Sikes, President CEO of Farm Credit Northwest Florida opened the reception, saying he wasn’t new to Farm Credit, just new in the saddle in Marianna. Sikes said that he was from South Georgia and when he arrived here, he was going through the Advocator information and he same to a note that said, “Aggravate her”. He continued, “I thought, that's a different word. And when I read into it and she showed me the literature behind it, I knew immediately we had made the right decision.”
Lisa Andrews was next to address those present, “It was an honor to be here today to recognize such an outstanding young woman.” She told about their AgVocator Scholarship program, “We revamped it about three years ago and we've had three recipients coming today. And I want to tell you that all three are incredible, remarkable, and the team that judged them had a very difficult time. But we have got some amazing talent in northwest Florida. One credit is deep, deeply rooted in getting back to our rural communities.”
She said one of the ways they do this is with the AgVocator Scholarship program. This scholarship program empowers the next generation of young people to be involved as ag leaders and be supportive of agricultural rural communities and the things that Farm Credit of Northwest Florida embraces and stands for. They are passionate about supporting these students and helping them recognize their potential in supporting rural Northwest Florida by recognizing their academic excellence, agriculture leadership abilities and their support and commitment to rural communities and making a difference. They support the youth by encouraging them to become AgVocators who are going to make agriculture in Northwest Florida.
Sikes returned to the podium, “I want to tell you that before I formally introduce her that when I went over all of her stuff, her background, her resume and all those things, when I read it, I don't know how you do what all you do, but I was literally tired just reading everything that you've done. I'm just so impressed, extremely impressed. But here's a little background. She'll give you a lot more background. Here's a little bit of background that I want to share that I work with Rayleigh that's been provided to me and I've just learned a lot about you and really have become a better person just reading and I can't wait to hear from you. But Raleigh is a proud native of Jackson County, Florida and is student at Oklahoma State University where she is pursuing a degree in agribusiness with a certificate in ethical leadership.”
Raleigh Carter was introduced and took the podium. Carter said started with a joke about a farmer’s wife that went missing. She said, “That's my go to. Middle schoolers like it much more than you guys did. I'm already on top of the world today. There's a check with $20,000 in my name on it.”
She said, “I was blessed enough to receive AgVocator scholarship this year. So yeah, like I mentioned, my background lies here in Jackson County. I am a proud alumni of the Cottondale FFA chapter.”
She said that many people recognize her from soliciting funds for our travel efforts. She added, “That was one of the greatest things I think I had in the blue jacket was how to solicit money. And then of course, values like working on a team medal is one of the things that we learned from Mr. Scurlock. Outside of that, I was involved in 4H, but my plate wasn't full enough. So, I worked with a few other students in Jackson County and got to help form the Jackson County Junior Cattlemen Association.”
She is a student at Oklahoma State University where she studies agribusiness and ethical leadership. That's a very exciting path and sometimes stressful in classes like Quantitative Methods of Agricultural Economics.
Carter said, “One of my greatest accomplishments in life so far is being a McKnight Scholars Leadership Program through the Hargis Leadership Institute.”
She said, “Outside of that, I'm also involved in SGA on two different committees, Cowboy Cousins, which works with international students to make them feel more welcome on campus, as well as the Mental Health Committee as we publicize the mental health resources available to students on campus. To expand my work with international students, I also serve as a mentor for China Agricultural University. They send about 20 students to Oklahoma State to finish the last two years of their degree each year. So, I'm in charge of mentoring five of them and helping their experience be as great as it can be. I'm a member of the Honors College, so I'm the vice president of the Honors College Student Association.”
She said, “Thank you to the many people who have poured into me the way that you all are or have. Many of you have stood beside me on my walk in my faith or have been a shoulder to cry when I needed it, or provided sound advice that I couldn't think of on my own at 20 years old. You've all played a really special role in my life and I appreciate that more than any of you will ever know. But before we're totally done, I just really felt it on my heart to share this verse with everyone. It has been in my life in a different way almost every single day for the past three weeks. And that says ‘trust in the Lord with all your heart and lean not on your own understanding in all your ways. Submit to him and he will make your path straight.’”
Refreshments and a social time followed the presentation of the $20,000 check to Rayleigh Carter from Farm Credit representatives Stacy Sikes and Lesia Andrews.