KANSAS CITY, Mo. — Lydia Shaw, Caldwell, Idaho, received the prestigious John Ascuaga Memorial Scholarship at the 2023 Western States National Hereford Show in Reno, Nev., Dec. 2. The $2,000 John Ascuaga Scholarship is awarded to a high achieving National Junior Hereford Association (NJHA) member from the Western States and is given on behalf of the Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA) and the Western States Hereford Association.

Shaw is a freshman at the University of Idaho studying agriculture science, communications and leadership with a minor in marketing. She plans to pursue a career where she can help farmers and ranchers market and sell their products and services to the evolving and rigorous agriculture industry. Shaw is a leader in her state organization serving as the president of the Idaho Junior Hereford Association and is an active member of the NJHA, having been named the reserve champion intermediate showman at the 2023 Junior National Hereford Expo and attended the Faces of Leadership Conference in Columbus, Ohio.

The John Ascuaga Scholarship fund was initiated in 2015 during the 50^th celebration of the Western Nugget as breeders donated funds in recognition of longtime Nugget Casino owner, rancher and Hereford advocate. Ascuaga was inducted into the Hereford Hall of Merit in 2014 and is the reason the Western Nugget National Hereford Show and Sale takes place each year. The event started with a Hereford bull sale in a tent in the Nugget parking lot in 1967, and evolved into the sale on the stage inside John Ascuaga’s Nugget Hotel and Casino for more than 50 years.

“The foundation is very proud of this year’s scholarship recipients in Reno and the HYFA Board of Directors offers a great deal of thanks to the Western States Hereford Association for helping build HYFA’s scholarship pillar and build our young people for their future careers,” says Amy Cowan, Director of Youth Activities and Foundation for the American Hereford Association.

The Western States Hereford Association awarded a total of $6,000 this year and these scholarships are part of more than $220,000 that was disbursed from HYFA in 2023. Applications for the spring HYFA scholarships are due April 1 and Western States Hereford scholarships will open in the fall of 2024 and may be found by visiting herefordyouthfoundation.org.

###

The Hereford Youth Foundation of America (HYFA) was established in 1986 and is a not-for-profit 501(c)(3) corporation dedicated exclusively to scholarship and educational support of youth in the business of raising Hereford cattle. The mission of the Hereford Youth Foundation of America is to encourage, recognize and reward the development of life skills and values in the next generation of leaders by providing education, scholarship and leadership opportunities for Hereford Youth.