President's Blog – May 2015

Howdy! As summer draws near, our team here is hard at work planning ways to make this year’s Fair bigger and better than ever. In my previous letter to you, I mentioned that a portion of the net proceeds from the State Fair of Texas are given as scholarships to deserving youth throughout the state of Texas. Over the past month, we have had the honor of awarding 149 new college scholarships to graduating seniors in the Dallas area and throughout the Lone Star State.
I am thrilled to announce that the State Fair’s board of directors voted to increase the scholarship amount from $5,000 per student over four years to $6,000 per student over four years. This increase will apply not only to new recipients, but will also be given to approximately 197 recipients who are currently attending a state college or university, and have met the requirements for scholarship renewal.
Along with Opening Day, one of the staff’s favorite days of the year is our annual Pete Schenkel Scholarship Awards Luncheon, where we recognize scholarship recipients from five Dallas Independent School District high schools in the Fair Park area – Irma Lerma Rangel Young Women’s Leadership School, James Madison, Lincoln, North Dallas and Woodrow Wilson High Schools. This year’s luncheon had more than 300 people in attendance, including local community leaders, State Fair staff and board members, DISD faculty members and families of 55 students receiving State Fair of Texas Pete Schenkel Scholarships.
In addition to the 55 local recipients, the Fair awarded Youth Livestock Scholarships to 94 students from 80 different cities across Texas, all of whom have participated in State Fair of Texas Youth Livestock competitive events and are enrolling in an agricultural-related or agricultural-benefiting natural science curriculum.
The State Fair of Texas Youth Scholarship Program combines our passion for education and agriculture with our goal of having a positive impact on the community. We thank you for supporting the Fair and helping us provide scholarships to deserving youth throughout our great Lone Star State. We wish all of our recipients the very best during their college journey.
See you at the Fair!
Mitchell Glieber, President
State Fair of Texas