Cream of the Crop! Young Farmers win top awards at 53rd GYFA Convention
2022 State Farm Family of the Year, Dee and Paige Miller and their children IV & Wiley Miller
The 53rd annual Georgia Young Farmers Association Convention was held this past weekend at the Westin Inn Convention Center at Jekyll Island. The Seminole County Young Farmer chapter was well represented again at this year’s state event.
The GYFA convention is the highlight of the year for GYFA members. State award winners are announced, scholarship winners are recognized, competitions are held, and a newly elected Board of Directors is installed. The Georgia Young Farmers Association convention is a family event that offers fun family activities and women’s programs each year. To get the convention started off in the right fashion, Jeff Braswell opened the event with our National Anthem. Jeff performed the Anthem both nights of the convention, and was commended for his great singing talents.
The awards program concluded the first night with the coveted “Farm Family of the Year” award announcement. The North, Cetral and South region farm family winners were all called on stage for the announcement. After watching each region winning farm family’s farm operation video footage, Dee and Paige Miller and their children IV and Wiley Miller were recognized as the 2022 State Winners.
The next day started off very well for Cindy Bowen, as she won the GYFA Special Door Prize of $1000.00 cash announced in the exhibit hall.
On the last night of the convention, the eight top students chosen from among the sixty-one GYFA chapters across the state were recognized for winning the Terrell Weeks Memorial Scholarship honoring the very best of the best agriculture students in the state of Georgia. BethAnn Smith, SCMHS Senior and daughter of Dusty and Heather Smith, was named one of the recipients of this prestigious scholarship.
At the conclusion of the GYFA convention, the 2022 GYFA Board of Directors was retired, and the newly elected board for 2023 was announced as they took the stage. Jeff Braswell was announced as the 2023 GYFA Secretary and Dustin Bowen was announced as the new GYFA Jr. Director for the South Region. The Seminole County Young Farmer chapter welcomes anyone who would like to join and support the organization. Membership becomes open when a Senior high school student enters the first semester of his or her Senior year.
Those making the trip from Seminole County included Jeff Braswell, Susan Braswell, Stan Deal, Carson Deal, Greg Mims, Stephanie Mims, Dustin Bowen, Brittany Bowen, John Emmet Bowen, Cindy Bowen, Donna Godfrey, Dee Miller, Paige Miller, IV Miller, Wiley Miller, Wes Pace, Dusty Smith, Heather Smith, BethAnn Smith and Drew Smith.
Membership dues are as follows: $40 for single members; $50 for couples; $10 for Junior members (18-21 years of age). Please contact Wes Pace at 229-220-1233 if you would like to join or have questions about the Young Farmer program.
