Melstone’s Jennaway Wins MFBF Speech Contest

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The following is a press release from the Montana Farm Bureau Federation:

 

BILLINGS–Jack Jennaway, a 17-year-old from Melstone High School, won the Montana Farm Bureau Foundation Youth Speech Contest – Senior Division – during the Montana Farm Bureau Convention in Billings Nov. 11. This was the second year Jennaway bested other competitors to win $400 for first place.

 

The topic was “What does the ability of agricultural youth to work alongside their relatives on a family farm or ranch mean to you, and what benefits for agriculture and young people are gained by farm and ranch in a family operation?”

 

Jennaway noted, “Because I grew up on a ranch, I have life experiences that are rare and extremely valuable. I’ve worked for as long as I can remember. Because of this, I know how to do what very few adults in this country seem to know how to do – work hard.”

 

Jennaway went on to say the Department of Labor rules that the government agency tried to enforce earlier this year would have not only stopped kids from working on farms and ranches, but diminished the FFA and 4-H. “If either of these two organizations did not exist, the best way to educate students about agriculture would be gone, and two of the biggest forces that develop misguided students into leaders of tomorrow would be gone.”

 

The second place in the senior division of the MFB Foundation Youth Speech contest was awarded to Trinity Lee of Drummond. Lee stated that although she didn’t grow up on a farm or ranch, a government rule not allowing kids to work in agriculture, “I realized this law could change everything. I live in a small rural community. Around home, youth work on their family ranches all of the time, that’s how they get spending cash and get their work done.”

 

Third place was awarded to Jamie Joelle Nelson of Red Lodge, who noted, “Works on a ranch is not something that you can do sitting on your couch and talking about it. I have been working cattle on the ranch with my Grandpa since I could sit a horse by myself, and since then I have been building up my own herd with his. The work ethics I have learned are things I would not have been able to learn in school.”

 

The Speech Contest is an annual event hosted by the Montana Farm Bureau Foundation, which gives $1500 in prize money to first, second and third place winners in two divisions. The MFB Foundation’s mission is to support Montana agriculture through education, research and community support, with a special emphasis on the development of youth. The Montana Farm Bureau Convention runs Nov. 11-14 at the Billings Hotel and Convention Center.

 

 

Montana Farm Bureau is the state’s largest agricultural organization with more than 18,000 member families.

 

 

Source:  MFBF

Posted by Haylie Shipp

 

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