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PALMER — The Alaska State Fair recently announced the 2022 scholarship recipients, which included two students from the Mat-Su Borough School District in the top 3.
Each year, high school students from across the state who plan to attend college or vocational school submit applications for scholarships from the Alaska State Fair.
A total of five students were selected for scholarships for a combined total of $7,500 this year, according to a recent press release that stated that education is a key part of the Fair’s overall mission.
Fair scholarships are open to all Alaskan junior and senior high school students who plan to attend college or vocational school, and the application period typically opens in January and runs through March with Scholarships awarded in May.
The scholarship recipients as well as every student who submitted an application will receive two free admission tickets to the 2022 Fair season, which runs from Aug. 19 through Sept. 5.
Anna DeVolld of Soldotna took first place with a $3,000 scholarship.
DeVolld described her plans to use a booth at the Fair to educate Alaskans about the importance of pollinators by distributing her pollinator packs and curriculum kits and conducting free lessons for fairgoers in her scholarship essay.
“I have a passion both for the environment and for teaching, and the goal of my program has always been to educate the next generation about the environment and the importance of protecting and promoting it for the benefit of all,” DeVolld stated in the press release.
Mat-Su Central School senior, Peter Barela won a $2,000 scholarship for second place.
Barela spent a year completing a study abroad program in Switzerland, and he’s currently enrolled in college courses. He plans to attend California Polytechnic State University to work toward a bachelor’s degree in business before pursuing a career in business and commercial piloting.
Barela analyzed the social and economic impacts of the Fair’s decision to change its schedule to a three-weekend season in 2021 in his scholarship essay.
“By coming up with new ideas and strategies, and by finding solutions to create events and opportunities for a socially starved community, the Alaska State Fair was able to not only survive as a business but also to continue providing a healthy growing environment for Alaskans when they needed it most,” Barela stated in the press release.
Palmer High School senior, Mykennan Rinella won the $1,500 third-place scholarship. Rinella plans to attend the University of Colorado at Colorado Springs to study environmental sciences, and she plans to pursue a career in sustainable agriculture.
She submitted a creative project with her scholarship application titled “Women in Agriculture.” Her application included a detailed description of her inspiration and process, as well as photos of the work in progress and the final piece.
“Seeing your scholarship application inspired me to create a piece of art as the Fair, agriculture, and Palmer have been a huge influence on me and my childhood,” Rinella stated in the press release. “In this project, I used texture, color, and visual movement to create a strong piece about agriculture, and the impact the women’s population has had on agriculture in the Matanuska Valley.”
Ketchikan High School senior Isabella Kershaw and Mat-Su Career and Technical High School senior Dane Harmon received $500 scholarships as this year’s honorable mentions.
Harmon plans to attend Utah State University to study civil engineering with the intent to return to Alaska to pursue his career and raise a family in the Mat-Su Valley.
Harmon has raised and sold animals at the Fair as an active member of 4-H. He’s even worked at the Fair’s petting zoo. Harmon explained his plans to bring back his great-grandparents’ milking demonstration to the Fair in his scholarship essay. The demonstration culminates with an ice cream-making lesson to bring the point home.
“I think that learning where our food comes from and the work that goes into it is valuable knowledge. This would not only teach fairgoers about the process of milking a cow and one of the products you can make with it, but it would include a tasty souvenir,” Harmon stated in the press release.
For more information, visit alaskastatefair.org.
Contact Mat-Su Valley Frontiersman reporter Jacob Mann at jacob.mann@frontiersman.com
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