05/09/08 Apples and Education

Learning from Apples. I'm Greg Martin with today's Fruit Grower Report. Apples and education. Ever since grade school the two have gone hand in hand. The Washington Apple Education Foundation is the charity of the tree fruit industry. The WAEF promotes scholarships, farm worker education plus general & nutritional education regarding the apple industry. Jennifer Witherbee, Executive Director with the WAEF says the scholarship program is underway. WITHERBEE: The largest project we work on is our scholarship program. It's an on-going program but this is the really fun time for it because this is when we get to make our scholarship awards, and we're in that process right now. We've done a lot of it. There's a little bit left but so far we've made 63 awards. Over 160 students applied for scholarships this year. Besides the education and scholarship programs, Witherbee also says kids can take part in their Year of the Apple contest. WITHERBEE: We do the "Year of the Apple" contest every year and that's an art contest we have. And this is our 12th year and it's an art contest that is open to all Washington State students, so kindergarten through 12th grade. We have honorable mention prizes in several different categories and a grand prize. And the grand prize award winner receives a $1000 savings bond and their artwork is featured on the poster calendar that is published by Dow-Agri Sciences. That's today's Fruit Grower Report. I'm Greg Martin on the Northwest Ag Information Network.