Big Timber native awarded W.D. Farr Scholarship from National Cattlemen’s Foundation
Ariel Overstreet-Adkins, a native of Big Timber, was recently awarded the W.D. Farr Scholarship from the National Cattlemen’s Foundation. The $12,000 scholarship is awarded to two graduate students each year, recognizing superior achievement in academics and leadership, while working to benefit the beef cattle industry. The award was presented at the Cattle Industry Summer Conference in Denver, Colorado.
“I’d like to take this opportunity to thank the National Cattlemen’s Foundation (NCF) and NCBA for the incredible honor,” said Overstreet-Adkins as she accepted the award. “It has been great to learn more about W.D. Farr’s life, leadership, vision and legacy; and it is certainly humbling for my name to even be mentioned in the same sentence as W.D. Farr.”
Ariel continued showing her appreciation by adding, “I have been incredibly blessed this summer to receive support from my friends in the cattle industry, with scholarships from the Montana Stockgrowers Foundation, Montana CattleWomen, and today from NCF. These scholarships mean a tremendous amount to me and my family as we work to pay for law school. These scholarships will allow me to graduate with less debt, which is significant because it means that I am going be able to work on issues for the people that I care about.”
Overstreet-Adkins is especially thankful to MSGA and MCW for their support. “Both associations have been instrumental in my professional development. Working for MSGA in communications, then having the opportunity to lobby for the Stockgrowers and CattleWomen at three Montana legislative sessions, really solidified my passion for the cattle industry.”
Ariel is a student at the University of Montana School of Law in Missoula. Expecting to graduate in 2016, Overstreet-Adkins intends to help ensure the continued influence of agriculture and rural America, by practicing with a focus on natural resource and environmental law, especially water law from an agricultural perspective.
Overstreet-Adkins received her undergraduate degree from Princeton University, where she graduated with Honors while studying Cultural Anthropology in 2006. For the five years prior to law school she worked for the Montana Stockgrowers Association in charge of the Association’s communications efforts and serving as a lobbyist at the Montana legislature for three sessions to help advocate for Montana ranchers.
The annual W.D. Farr Scholarship awards were established by the National Cattlemen’s Foundation in 2007 to recognize outstanding students who plan to pursue careers in meat science and animal agriculture. W.D. Farr was the first president of the National Cattlemen’s Foundation, and served as president of the American National Cattlemen’s Association, which would later become the NCBA. His career spanned 75 years and included innovations in cattle feeding, uniform beef grading, water conservation and banking. Farr died at age 97 in August 2007.
