Fall Scholarship Dinner 2013
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Creating a setting that could be described as “rustic elegance,” the College of Food, Agricultural, and Environmental Sciences celebrated excellence and opportunity at its Fall Scholarship Dinner.
About 250 guests, including scholarship donors, their recipients, CFAES faculty, and staff, were welcomed to the Ohio Union’s Archie Griffin Ballroom.
They found a stage that had been transformed into a fall forest as the college recognized the excellence of its outstanding scholars and the opportunities afforded them through the generosity of donors.
After scholarship recipients posed for photos with their benefactors, all shared a delicious meal and dessert, compelling stories, and a familiar song or two.
“Receiving a scholarship makes an enormous difference for students and their families. Each scholarship recipient here knows how much this support matters,” said Jessica Shanahan, a senior Agricultural Communications major from Mechanicsburg, Ohio, who served as emcee.
In addition to Jessica, guests heard from Erica Cramer, an honors student from Asheville, N.C., André Dager of The Velvet Ice Cream Company, and CFAES Dean Bruce A. McPheron.
Erica, who will be graduating in December with a bachelor’s degree in food science, is recipient of The Velvet Ice Cream Company and Dager Family Scholarship. She told of her mother’s struggle to support Erica and her two sisters, all three of whom are in college. She further described an epiphany that came to her while she had been packing boxes for a food bank in Dallas, Texas. That community service experience -- made possible because she enrolled at Ohio State – gave direction to her studies.
“I decided to focus my attention on improving convenience foods,” Erica said. “So funding from scholarships allowed me to engage in opportunities like this, and they have allowed me to pursue research that will make foods healthier for people in the future.”
She thanked André Dager of The Velvet Ice Cream Company, whose family provides the scholarship.
At the end of the evening, guests sung along to Carmen Ohio, led by The Ohio State Of Mind, an a cappella group composed of OSU students who had performed earlier.
To see more, click on our Photo Gallery. For details about giving in support of the college, contact 614-292-0473 or click on our Giving Page.