The Blinn College Agricultural Sciences Program was presented the Washington Soil and Water Conservation District 2016 Friend of Conservation Award Friday in recognition of its commitment to agricultural education and community service.
The award is presented to the outstanding individual or organization in the district who has rendered the most unselfish conservation service, and previous winners include Dr. Bill Eikenhorst in 2014 and Dale Ramey in 2015.
“There were so many reasons for selecting Blinn for the 2016 Friend of Conservation Award,” said Terry Pendas, district clerk. “They have won so many national awards and are so highly ranked, but they are also very selfless in offering to host many of our local agricultural events at their facility.”
Blinn’s Agricultural Sciences Program enrolls almost 800 students – making it roughly four times the size of any other two-year agricultural program in the state. Blinn offers agricultural science classes on all its campuses, with the W.J. “Bill” Rankin Agricultural Complex in Brenham serving as the program’s hub.
In addition to its excellence in the classroom, Blinn offers extracurricular educational activities in the areas of livestock judging, agriculture club, wildlife, agriculture mechanics, horticulture and agriculture sciences.
“The sense of gratitude that you get when the community as a whole has recognized all the hard work your kids are putting in, to me is an overwhelming achievement,” said Bryn Behnke, assistant dean for the Division of Agricultural & Natural Sciences.
Last fall, the Agriculture Club volunteered more than 950 hours at the Washington County Fair, and at least 80 Blinn students have volunteered at Washington County Fair each of the past eight years. Additionally, the club volunteers at the Austin, Brazos, Colorado, Burleson, Galveston and Harris county fairs, and the San Antonio and Houston livestock shows.
During the 2014-15 school year, the Agriculture Club totaled 4,800 hours of community service. The club partnered with 4-H, FFA, the Coastal Conservation Association of Texas, Texas Parks & Wildlife and the Texas Extension Service.
“You like to think that people notice when our kids work hard, and to me this award does that,” Behnke said. “The community as a whole is saying, ‘We recognize all the contributions that the Blinn Ag Program makes and the hard work their kids have put in.’”
Additionally, Blinn hosts its annual Agricultural Mechanics Show, the Area III State Convention and the District FFA Convention.
Since its inception in 2002, Blinn’s livestock judging team has produced 41 national champion and reserve finishes, 29 academic All-Americans and 22 members who went on to become national champions at a four-year university. Eight former students have gone on to become team coaches at major universities.
For more information about Blinn’s Agricultural Sciences Program, visit: www.blinn.edu/agriculture/.
