2007 CYSA Competition Winners

Youth from across Canada gathered this weekend at the 85th Royal Agricultural Winter Fair for the 2007 Canadian Young Speakers for Agriculture Competition. After a day of intense competition, speakers Christina Crowley of Hastings, Ontario and Thomas Fischer of Wingham, Ontario emerged as winners in the senior and junior categories respectively.

Christina Crowley
2007 CYSA National Senior Champion

Crowley, a third year Ag Business student at the University of Guelph, spoke on “The Next Generation: Why Youth in Agriculture are Here to Stay”. Christina has been very involved in her local 4-H club where she served as President and Youth Leader. In 2005, she was named as the CNE Ambassador of the Fairs and currently serves as the President of the College Royal at the University of Guelph.

Thomas Fischer
2007 CYSA National Junior Champion

Junior winner Thomas Fischer spoke on “Then and Now: An Evolving Canadian Farmer”. At 14, a grade 9 student attending F.E. Madill secondary School in Wingham, Ontario, he is a proud 4-H member involved in beef and fishing projects. In April and May of this year, Thomas had the distinction of serving as a legislative page at Queen’s Park.

This year’s junior and senior competitions were very successful with a total of 26 competitors from eight provinces. The CYSA Inc. program has continued to grow since its inception in 1985. Once primarily available to Ontario participants, the competition was opened up to competitors from across Canada in 1997, and became officially bilingual. The growth of the new junior competition has been a particular success, as the number of participants has doubled since its inception in 2006.

“We were excited to host more speakers than we’ve seen in the last 10 years of this competition this weekend. The quality of the speeches was very high, and we anticipate continued growth in the size and quality of our competition,” said CYSA Inc. President Ted Young.

For her winning efforts Christina received a cash prize of a thousand dollars, a framed print from the Royal Bank of Canada, and her name engraved on the CYSA perpetual plaque. Thomas received five hundred dollars, a framed print from RBC, and an engraving on the junior CYSA plaque.

First senior runner-up Claire Cowan of Blenheim, ON received a cash award of $500, and Paige Junkin from Eriksdale, MB was declared second senior runner-up and was awarded $350. The remaining senior finalists were Kaleigh Klammer of Vegreville, AB, Katharine Found of Courtice, ON and Krista Boom of North River, NB. Each of these finalists received a $150 cash award. In addition, all finalists received a motivational book from the Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs. In the junior competition, the first runner-up Eric Coomes of Mississauga, ON received $300. Blythe Junkin of Eriksdale, MB was the second runner-up, and received an award of $150. Each junior competitor received an educational book.

With the strong skills that the participants bring to the competition, selecting the finalists and winners is always a difficult task. Judging for this year’s competition for the senior division was undertaken by Jackie Fraser, AGCare; Lisa McLean, Farmers Feed Cities; Rob Hannam, Issues and Insights; Shirley Bryan, John Deere; Rob Hall, TD Canada Trust; Lyndon Stewart, Executive Director, 4-H Ontario; Kimberly Sharman, Syngenta; Adele Pelland, Quarry Integrated Communications and Lillie Ann Morris, L.A. Morris and Associates. Presiding over the junior competition were Andi McKillop, Argyle Farms; Jay Fretz, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited and Jeanine Moyer, Ontario Soybean Growers.

This year’s sponsors include the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair, Pioneer Hi-Bred Limited, AgCareers.com
Aumell Agri Consulting, 4-H Ontario, Canadian Federation of Agriculture, Co-operators Insurance
Fairfield Inn & Suites, Gordon P. Maxwell, Lawyer, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Potato Growers of Alberta, Royal Bank of Canada, Syngenta Crop Protection Canada Inc. and TD Canada Trust. A reception on Friday evening to welcome participants, family and friends to the 2007 Competition was also generously sponsored. Numerous other sponsors participated at the provincial and regional levels to help defray travel costs for out-of-province participants.