Weld County 4-h Foundation Scholarship
Cole is the son is the son of Gail and Alan Halley. He is a Sophomore at Northeastern Jr. College. He is planning to attend South Dakota State University in Brookings. He has two loves in life-agriculture and technology. Through his employment at Larson Farms and Feeding he was able to find a way to combine these two passions into one career goal. Cole’s goal is to obtain his degree in agriculture and bio systems engineering, and then to obtain employment in the research and design program, specifically precision ag technologies, at John Deere. It is through his work experience with Larson Farms and Feeding that Cole found his interest in agriculture and bio-resource engineering with an emphasis in precision agriculture. He has continued to develop his employment skills by obtaining a job with Colorado Department of Natural Resources Water Division as a contract employee and participating in a work study program at NJC.
His first year in 4-H, Cole showed a cow/calf pair at the Weld County Fair and that made him eligible for the Cattle for Kids program. He was fortunate to have had his name drawn for one of the scholarships to buy his own heifer. Cole met with many breeders throughout Weld County before he found the heifer that he wanted to start his own herd with. He now has six cows in his herd from his first heifer purchase. Of these six, Cole has shown three of them as breeding heifers at the Weld County Fair. While Cole was not a 4-H officer, he lived a full 4-H life. He worked three years to earn enough money to participate in the Washington Focus trip, despite COVID trying to keep everyone from participating. Cole has also shown market sheep and goats at a national level in Montana at the NILE, Nebraska at Aksarben, at Arizona at Arizona National Livestock Show. Through these national shows, he met some amazing people and has seen the world of showing on an extremely high level. He was also a member of the Weld County Fair Junior Livestock Sales Committee Youth Ambassador program. Being a youth ambassador member allowed him to develop his communication and marketing skills as he met with various business owners throughout Weld County promoting the livestock sale. Cole learned how to set goals and to work hard to achieve his goals. He learned how to talk in front of a crowd confidently. He learned how to be both a leader and a team player to accomplish tasks. These skills will benefit him as he transitions into the adult world and become a leader in the agriculture industry. Cole is the recipient of the Weld County 4-H Foundation Scholarship.