MOUNT OLIVE — University of Mount Olive junior agribusiness major Sarah Best recently won the regional and state level NC Farm Bureau Collegiate Discussion Meet held in Mount Olive and Raleigh, respectively.

The Collegiate Discussion Meet is a competition promoted by the American Farm Bureau Federation (AFBF) Young Farmers & Ranchers (YF-&R) Committee and is designed to enhance speaking and communication skills, while promoting solutions to agricultural issues. Participants must be enrolled in a university or college degree program related to agriculture. The University of Mount Olive had 24 competitors at the regional level. Best and senior agriculture production systems major Daniel Brown from Boone moved forward to the state competition.

At the state level, Brown and Best competed against each other and two students from NC State University and two from NC A&T State University for the opportunity to represent North Carolina at the upcoming American Farm Bureau Federation Collegiate Discussion Meet to be held in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania in February of 2017. Best was awarded a $1000 cash prize for winning and her trip costs to Pittsburgh will be completely covered by Farm Bureau.

“Participation in the Collegiate Discussion Meet helps students to develop as leaders and teaches them the use of effective problem solving in a group setting. More importantly, through preparation for the competition, students begin to develop a keen understanding of the problems facing agriculture today and in the future” stated Sandy Maddox, director of the Agribusiness Center at UMO.

“Sarah took an immediate interest in participating in the Discussion Meet, and became extremely well prepared for the competition. She is a very articulate speaker and is a natural problem solver. We are very proud of her performance and her achieved success as the state winner of this competition.”

Best is the daughter of Greg and Paula Best of Newton Grove.

UMO junior agribusiness major Sarah Best recently won the regional and state level NC Farm Bureau Collegiate Discussion Meet.
https://www.clintonnc.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/11/web1_UMO-Sarah-Best-1.jpgUMO junior agribusiness major Sarah Best recently won the regional and state level NC Farm Bureau Collegiate Discussion Meet.