Wilco Member Scholarship Results
We are excited to share with you the results of our first Annual Wilco Member Scholarship.
As a result of the feedback from the member engagement survey conducted last year, Wilco established this scholarship program to support the educational goals of the next generation within our cooperative family.
As a cooperative, Wilco values the power of community, pursuit of excellence and the importance of investing in the future of our members. This scholarship is intended for the immediate family members of our co-op members who are current high school seniors or undergraduate students pursuing post-secondary education in agriculture, agribusiness, animal science, environmental science or other fields that contribute to the strength and sustainability of rural communities.
Read about this year’s scholarship awardees:
Kenzie Kauer
Kenzie will be attending Eastern Oregon University in the fall. She applied for a scholarship because agriculture has played a big role in her life. Through her family’s farm, Kauer Family Farms, FFA and 4-H she gained experiences that taught her the value of hard work, leadership, and service. As she continues her education, she plans to pursue a degree in agricultural entrepreneurship and looks forward to a career advocating for agriculture.
Caden Christensen
Caden will be attending Chemeketa Community College before continuing her education at Oregon State University, where she plans to study biology and agriculture so that she can one day take over her family’s farm, Christensen Family Farms, and continue her horse training business. Caden has been involved in agriculture her entire life, growing up helping her dad on their family farm and learning animal care and management from her mom, who is a veterinarian.
James Barnet
James will be attending Oregon State University and will be studying agricultural business. He applied for a scholarship because it would give him the support needed to go to college, get a degree, and bring that back to help grow his family’s farm, Barnett Farm & Nursery. He grew up working on his family’s farm and that is where his love for agriculture began. He enjoys working alongside his family everyday and hopes to continue building and growing the farm in the future.
Please join us in congratulating this year’s scholarship awardees. We are excited to support their educational journey. Thank you to everyone who applied for our first annual Wilco Member Scholarship. Applications for next year’s scholarship will open in January 2027.