Westman shines in 2025 4-H Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship Awards – DiscoverWestman
Last week Monday, 4-H Manitoba announced the recipients of their 2025 Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarships, with three of the four recipients calling Westman 4-H clubs home!
Executive Director, Shannon Carvey says the Leaders of Tomorrow scholarships also honor and recognize long-serving 4-H leaders who have made a lasting impact on their clubs and communities.
“When we award the Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarships, we also honor four leaders who have been with our program for a long time,” explains Carvey. “I think our longest standing leader was forty-nine years. So that really shows a testament to our volunteers and their commitment to the organization as well as the outstanding members that we’re recognizing with these scholarships.”
The 2025 Leaders of Tomorrow Scholarship Recipients:
Goodlands 4-H Club member, Sarah Meggison, received the $10,000 scholarship in honor of Lois Clark from the Poplar Hill 4-H Club. Meggison is a current member of the University of Manitoba Young Leaders 4-H Club.
Allison Beaumont from the Neepawa Bells, Bulls and Builders 4-H Club, received the $10,000 scholarship in honor of Sharon Evans from the Hartney 4-H Club. Beaumont is a student at Brandon University.
Ashlyn Whetter, member of the Alexander 4-H Club received the $10,000 scholarship in honor of Karen Jones from the Tilston 4-H Beef Club. Whetter is also a member of the Young Leaders Club at U of M.
La Salle area 4-H Club member, Brooklyn Piasta, received the $10,000 scholarship in honor of Estelle Bahuaud from the Headingly 4-H Club. Piasta is also a member of the U of M Young Leaders Club.
The Manitoba Government generously established a $1 million endowment fund with the Brandon Area Community Foundation, which provided $38,126 for scholarships this year. These four outstanding 4-H Manitoba members were selected to receive scholarships in support of their post-secondary education.
Carvey says there is specific criteria that goes along with the scholarship, including the recipients must be serving agriculture in some way. "And of course, even though some of them are perhaps not directly serving agriculture, they're all very connected. And their futures all kind of tie back to rural community, which is so important to the agriculture community as well."
A scholarship committee scores the applications on a rubric, and then there's an interview process, which Carvey finds quite an exciting thing to be part of "because you really get to hear what these members are planning for their and what their education path has taken them through until now," she explains, "and perhaps how things have changed for them over the years with their involvement in 4-H and how their connection is to agriculture."
"So, there are lots of moving pieces to it, but it's really a highlight of members who are really going above and beyond!" adds Carvey.
Applicants apply through the 4-H Manitoba scholarship online platform.
"And so that differs a little bit from our traditional 4-H scholarship applications, but then those applications are scored on a rubric, so it's very fair. Three people sit on the committee. So, each person scores each application and then those scores are tabulated, which is quite interesting."
"You know, it's interesting to see the differences in our members, and the applications" notes Carvey. "And all of the applications that we receive for the Leaders of Tomorrow scholarship are exceptional! So, it often comes down to literally half a point between the applicants, the way that the scores work out. So, it's a very close race!"
The top 10 scoring applicants are interviewed, and those scores are added to the application scores. The outcome is based on those final scores.
"I sit on that committee, and the interviews are by far my favorite part of it," shares Carvey. "Really, just hearing the fantastic things that these young people have accomplished already, and what their goals and dreams are for the future - it's really inspiring and heartwarming to have the opportunity to visit with them."
"Like I said, there's often only half a point separating some of their scores. So, it's an extremely close race and really, you know, it's amazing how many elite exceptional members we have in the province of Manitoba," adds Carvey.
