For the past five years, students in UF’s Agricultural Education and Communication department have been putting their professional skills to the test, and once again, they’ve come out on top.
UF’s Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow chapter took first place in the Yamaha Scholarship contest, which handed the chapter a $2,500 scholarship for creating the best-developed communication campaign.
The UF chapter has bagged the award four out of the past five years.
This year’s entry was comprised of four components themed around all-terrain vehicle safety, including a social media plan for Twitter, Facebook and Instagram, and a sample blog post, said Andrea Davis, a graphic designer for the department.
Ricky Telg, a UF professor in the agricultural education and communication department, said the competition encourages initiative in class because that’s often where students create their models.
“Students can actually use the criteria for the contest for some of the assignments they do in class,” Telg said.
Davis said the money received from the award will mostly be used to fund a trip for some members to the annual Agricultural Media Summit slated for Indianapolis in 2014.
Van Holmes, a Yamaha public relations manager, said the award is intended to provide professional development for students as well as financial assistance.
The UF ACT chapter has done a good job embracing the scholarship program, Holmes said, as the chapter develops high-quality, creative applications each year.
“We are really grateful that we are able to get our accomplishments, and that all the hard work that we put into the Yamaha is getting out,” said Tyler Brooks events coordinator for the UF chapter. “Everyone is seeing the great works that we have done.”
A version of this story ran on page 5 on 8/26/2013 under the headline "Yeah-maha: UF students take first place in scholarship contest"
