Michelina Browder earned first place in West Virginia Farm Bureau’s state “Picture Agriculture in West Virginia” poster contest. She was awarded $100 for her winning entry. Her design captured first place in the Pendleton County contest and was among 21 posters judged in the state competition.
Her poster, along with the second place poster by Brynn Carlson of Jefferson County and third place by Caleb Larkin of Mineral County, were on display at the West Virginia State Fair. The posters were printed on placemats which were used at Pendleton County Farm Bureau’s annual meeting and will be used at the WVFB annual meeting.
Posters of all county winners will be on display later this fall at the cultural center in Charleston.
Each year, the contest for fourth-grade students is sponsored statewide by the West Virginia Farm Bureau’s women’s committee for the purpose of promoting the importance of agriculture in the Mountain State.
“Each year, the students seem to get more creative at displaying what they think agriculture looks like,” stated Pam Hessler, WVFB women’s leadership chair, in the West Virginia Farm Bureau News. “Many of these students don’t live on a farm, but thankfully, in West Virginia, one doesn’t have to drive too far without seeing agriculture and all its beauty.”
Hessler continued, “Whether it is their families, having those of us come into the classrooms or the WVFB Mobile Ag Education Science Lab, we need to keep educating our youth about the importance of agriculture and the food, fiber and fuel that feeds us, clothes us and gets us here and there.”
Browder was a fourth-grade student at Brandywine Elementary School at the time she designed her poster.