The National Sorghum Foundation will award three exceptional students — Charles Colvin, Andrew Marchetti, and Allie Herring — with scholarships totaling $4,500 to support their educational endeavors in the 2024-25 academic year.
“A part of the National Sorghum Foundation’s mission is to foster the growth and leadership potential of passionate university students pursuing agricultural studies with a particular focus on sorghum,” Foundation Chairman Jeff Dahlberg said. “In line with this purpose, we take great pride in granting scholarships to these three exceptionally deserving students and eagerly anticipate the remarkable achievements they will make in their respective fields of study.”
These scholarships provide each winner $1,500 to assist with education expenses. The Bill Kubecka Memorial Scholarship winner, Herring, will also have the opportunity to travel to Washington, D.C., with National Sorghum Producers as part of the scholarship award to learn more about policies and regulations impacting the U.S. sorghum industry.
Charles Colvin, the recipient of the Bruce Maunder Scholarship, is a junior pursuing a bachelor’s degree in Plant Sciences at The Pennsylvania State University.
Colvin is from Malvem, Pennsylvania, where gardening in his suburban neighborhood led to a desire to better understand the performance of his plant yields and pests and diseases, setting the path for his area of study and future career. Colvin plans to pursue a doctoral degree and hopes to focus more on plant genetics, physiology and biotechnology.
Andrew Marchetti receives the Darrell Rosenow Memorial Scholarship. From Reklaw, Texas, Marchetti is a senior at Texas A&M University studying plant and environmental soil science.
Marchetti has actively engaged in advanced research projects focusing on sorghum breeding and genetics, aiming to continue his education with a graduate degree in plant breeding. His work includes significant contributions to understanding the genetic traits of sorghum to improve crop management and resilience.
Allie Herring of Franklin, Texas, is this year’s recipient of the Bill Kubecka Memorial Scholarship and is a senior at Texas Tech University, double majoring in agribusiness and agricultural communications.
Herring combines her academic achievements with a passion for conveying agricultural stories. Her internship experiences, including a significant role with the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Agriculture, have poised her to make substantial impacts in agricultural policy or corporate communications, two areas of interest for Herring.
