EMMA HEDGPETH Recieves Dr. Indyk Scholarship
By Suz Trusty
Emma Hedgpeth has been awarded a one-year Dr. Henry W. Indyk Scholarship, which is administered by Te Lawn Institute (TLI). Emma is the daughter of Paul and Jill Hedgpeth, Columbia River Seed, Kennewick, Washington. She is a student at Washington State University in Pullman,
Washington, who has completed her sophomore year and will be returning for her junior year this fall.
She reports college is going very well, “It’s lots of fun and really productive.” Emma started her college career in pre-med, but after doing a medical internship last summer, she realized she didn’t want to be a doctor. She switched her major to business this semester and says it’s been a whole new world. She’s keeping her career path open for now, though she thinks her focus may be on marketing and advertising. She did an internship at a local credit union during high school in which she had to create marketing plans and then implement them at the small credit union branch she operated within the school and she thoroughly enjoyed that.
In her essay, “Grass and I,” which she submitted as part of her scholarship application, Emma wrote, “Working in the turfgrass industry taught me about hard work and provided me with the work ethic that fuels my independence and helps me achieve my goals in life.”
During the summers of 2013 through 2016, Emma worked at Columbia River Seed, on a seedstock production field. She says, “A seedstock field is really a bunch of “mini-fields” in one big field where seed purity and cleanliness are especially important.”
Emma worked under the supervision of Jory Iverson, seedstock supervisor for Columbia River Seed. His letter of recommendation stated, “Emma Hedgpeth is one of those good helpers I hate to lose. She has been helping me for several years now and she is very
44 TPI Turf News May/June 2018
valuable to CRS.” And, “Emma didn’t need to be taught how to work. I just had to show her what needed to be done and she would do it and show the others how to do it.” And, “You will be very hard pressed to find someone as polite, kind, honest, prompt and courteous as Emma.”
Harvesting is typically the toughest part of the seed production process. In her essay, Emma wrote, “It taught me to be diligent, providing me with the skills to persevere even when it is 100 degrees Fahrenheit in the shade, but the combine still needs to be cleaned.” And, “It taught me to be reliable, by entrusting me with heavy equipment and tasks that required precision and accuracy. It taught me to be inventive by making me a competent problem solver, especially with duct tape.”
Along with working in the business, Emma was able to attend a couple of the International Seed Federation (ISF) conferences overseas, one in Greece and one in Budapest, Hungary. She says, “Tose were some of the greatest experiences, being able to see incredible things and being exposed to other cultures.”
Emma further noted in her essay, “Participating in the turfgrass industry has allowed me to travel and has taught me to be sociable, and to create meaningful relationships with strangers, no matter where I am. It has taught me to appreciate other cultures, by bringing foreign guests into my home and making me a foreign guest in others’ homes. It has taught me how to count my blessings, by exposing me to people less fortunate than I and has given me a passion to be compassionate. It has taught me to be adaptable to my environment, by putting me in situations I would have never experienced otherwise.”
Emma extends her thanks to Te Lawn Institute and all those whose contributions fund the Dr. Henry W. Indyk Scholarship program. “I so appreciate their support. Receiving the scholarship is a huge help toward paying for my college expenses and assisting me in working toward my goal to graduate from college debt-free.”
Suz Trusty is co-editor of Turf News.
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