Sehnert concludes FFA and 4-H career with scholarship

The San Diego County Fair included a Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship for 2016 Fallbrook High School graduate Taryn Sehnert.

"I was just really excited about it," said Sehnert.

The Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship program works with the San Diego County Fair but is a separate organization with 501(c)(3) non-profit status. Most of the money for the scholarships is from livestock auction buyers who then donate their animals back to the fair for resale with those proceeds being used for scholarships while a small amount of the scholarship funding is from direct donations. The total scholarship amount varies from year to year depending on the amount of donations.

"It's really cool," Sehnert said. "They realize that giving money back is more important."

The Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship is one of two fair scholarship programs; the other is the Don Diego Scholarship.

"It's a really great community atmosphere," Sehnert said. "Everyone has a connection with the fair and with agriculture."

Applications for the Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship are available through 4-H and Future Farmers of America organizations in early February, and the students must return the applications by mid-March. Interviews with the students are conducted in mid-May.

The scholarship amount is based on a student's score; the students are ranked, a bar chart with scores but not names is shown to a selection committee, and the committee uses that chart to allocate the scholarship money for each position. Scholastic grades are a significant criteria in the scoring, and a student must also enter an animal at the county fair and the animal must place high enough to qualify for the fair auction. The public release of the scholarship recipients' names coincides with the fair's livestock auction, which this year was July 2.

Sehnert had a cumulative 3.2 grade point average during her four years at Fallbrook High School. She will start her college studies as a horticulture major at Mira Costa College. If she decides upon an agricultural education major she will likely transfer to Chico State University, Cal Poly San Luis Obispo, or Cal Poly Pomona. If she chooses an agricultural communications major her next college will likely be the University of Nebraska.

Sehnert, who turned 18 on May 7, attended Fallbrook Street Elementary School, Live Oak Elementary School, Potter Junior High School, and Fallbrook High School, graduating in June.

Sehnert joined the Fallbrook 4-H chapter when she was 9 years old and was 14 when she became a member of Fallbrook High School's FFA chapter.

"Both are wonderful clubs and organizations," she said.

In 2008, Sehnert made her San Diego County Fair debut as a Fallbrook 4-H member. She showed a goat which earned grand champion honors and also showed a pig that year.

Because the San Diego County Fair takes place prior to the start of the school year, Sehnert was able to participate in Fallbrook FFA as an incoming freshman in 2012. That year she showed a heifer in the FFA competition and a pig in the 4-H competition.

This year, Sehnert showed two Maine Anjou steers and a pig. Both steers were bred in Nebraska, acquired in January, and were 15 to 16 months old when they were shown at the fair.

Sehnert's father was born in Nebraska, and one of the steers was named after University of Nebraska head football coach Mike Riley. The steer called Mike Riley weighed 1,385 pounds when placed on the fair scales June 27 and was eventually selected as the FFA superheavyweight reserve champion. During the July 2 auction, Katie Calac and Calac Plastering purchased Mike Riley for $5 per pound.

Mike Riley and Something Awesome had the same sire and thus were half-brothers. Something Awesome weighed 1,241 pounds, which placed him in the middleweight class, and he was declared the FFA middleweight champion steer. A junior livestock exhibitor can only sell one large animal at auction, so Something Awesome was sold at a barn sale. He was purchased for $5 per pound by Bello Lei, Jeremiah Fuller, Anne Wade, and Cully Repair.

Although Mike Riley was the steer sold at auction, Sehnert showed Something Awesome during the showmanship competition.

"That was a really nice part of doing two steers," said Sehnert. "I got a choice which one works better for me."

Sehnert and Something Awesome were given fifth place in the market beef showmanship contest.

The swine Sehnert raised was called Mr. Fallbrook. She acquired the male Yorkshire cross from Ottenwalter Show Pigs at a show hog sale in Colusa in mid-March. Mr. Fallbrook weighed 226 pounds and was six months old when he was entered at the county fair. That placed Mr. Fallbrook in the lightweight class. He placed second, and the first-place pig in that class was raised by Sehnert's sister, Delana.

"I don't mind that," Taryn Sehnert said. "Because of our age difference we don't show together very often and so when we did, it was a lot of fun."

Delana Sehnert was 14 during the county fair and also took advantage of the opportunity for incoming ninth-graders to be part of FFA.

Taryn Sehnert was showing her steer at the same time the swine showmanship was scheduled, so she did not compete in showmanship with Mr. Fallbrook. The barn sale for Mr. Fallbrook resulted in Mike and Dee McReynolds and Ian and Mel Dunlap purchasing him for $4.50 per pound.

Taryn Sehnert noted that her FFA and 4-H experience provided her with leadership opportunities.

"It's an incredible experience," she said. "I'd highly recommend it to anybody who's thinking about it."