Youth conference awards $12k in scholarships

The annual Prairieland Youth Leadership Conference was held this weekend at the World Trade Center Saskatoon at Prairieland with 40 applicants, aged 14-21, all vying for leadership recognition and scholarships.

The conference had the participants engage in various interactive activities, competitions, and workshops beginning the morning of Saturday, February 4, and ending on Sunday, February 5 with the Awards Banquet, where parents joined for dinner and the awards.

Participants learned from presentations by members of the committee, guest speakers Clinton Monchuk and Dorothy Long from Farm & Food Care Saskatchewan, and Saskatchewan’s Agriculture YouTuber “Ag With Mady.” Topics such as social media storytelling, media, and interview training, communications strategies in agriculture, and effective brainstorming skills were covered.
Candidates were each given a journal to complete their assignments in and were divided into groups to work on a group presentation about contemporary agriculture issues to be presented Sunday morning. They were closely watched and judged by committee members throughout the full two days and the results are as follows:

• First place and a $4,500 scholarship were presented to Rayna Yasieniuk
• Second place and a $3,000 scholarship were awarded to Emma Brost
• Third place and a $2,500 scholarship were presented to Katherine Possberg
• Fourth and Fifth places and a $1,000 scholarship were awarded to Jana Rumpel and Amber MacDonald