Decatur grad receives William B. Blank scholarship for agriculture
“A farmer has to be a jack of all trades”. Those are the words of Mike Priola, the chairman of the William B. Blank scholarship committee. The scholarship is given annually to two students in the lower 3 counties who excel at school, and plan on farming in the future. The scholarship is named for Bill Blank, who Priola calls a pioneer. Not only did he spearhead advancements in the farming industry while working with top minds, but he always wanted to give back to his community. So a scholarship was set up to honor those who continued Blank’s legacy, who passed away last year.
Erin Smith is just that. Stephen Decatur principal Tom Zimmer says “she’s an athlete, she’s in every club you can imagine, she has all A’s for her high school career, so she’s the dream student to have.”
A dream student, who has dreams of maybe one day continuing the family business. “it started with my great grandfather, my grandfather took over, now my dad is a partner in it, and he works 7 – 6 days a week and sun up to sun down” Smith tells 47ABC. She has gained a work ethic watching the intensive care her father gave the farm, and it’s been proven through her academic and athletic success.
She’ll need it for the future, as Priola tells 47ABC “the population is growing and what’s happening is that we have to grow enough food to feed them, and that’s a very disheartening thing because there’s a lot of people starving around the world right now.” adding that the industry needs young minds like Erin’s.
In her application for the scholarship, Erin says to be a farmer, you need to know a little about everything. For instance, being a meteorologist, a mechanic, hunter, and even an insurance agent. Although she doesn’t know what she wants to focus on just yet when she attends Christopher Newport University next year, she knows a business background will give her a wide range of knowledge.
Erin is also ambitious with her goals, she tells 47ABC she plans to pass college on Dean’s list and find out what she wants to do to make a difference in other people’s lives in the future. A future that Principal Tom Zimmer needs no crystal ball for telling 47ABC “success is in her future for sure”. A future, that now has a little more stability thanks to this $6,000 scholarship.
