News Release Distributed 12/14/15
BATON ROUGE, La. – The Louisiana Division of the American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists and the Grain Elevator and Processing Society’s Gulf South Chapter have each established a scholarship for LSU College of Agriculture students.
Kenneth Gravois, LSU AgCenter sugarcane specialist and secretary-treasurer of The American Society of Sugar Cane Technologists, said the ASSCT’s core mission is promoting educational opportunities for the advancement of the mainland sugarcane industry.
“The Louisiana Division of the ASSCT has a long history of supporting academic endeavors at LSU through the establishment of four endowments, which include a professorship, a fellowship for graduate students and two undergraduate scholarships,” Gravois said.
The latest scholarship is a non-endowed merit scholarship for full-time incoming freshmen majoring in agricultural business, plant and soil systems, or environmental management systems. Preference will be given to students from sugarcane-producing parishes.
This scholarship is aimed at recruiting individuals who may one day contribute to the Louisiana sugar industry,” Gravois said.
The Grain Elevator and Processing Society Gulf South Scholarship will target juniors and seniors majoring in agricultural business who have a 3.0 or higher grade point average.
Jordan Garcia, the daily operations coordinator for Zen-Noh Grain and the GEAPS Gulf South Chapter president, said the society hopes the scholarship will get students interested in job opportunities at export grain elevators in the Gulf South.
“At Zen-Noh grain we’ve hired several LSU students in recent years,” Garcia said. “This scholarship can help students make a connection with GEAPS.”
Tobie Blanchard