Farming is in the heart of Nolan Stilgenbauer. “I was born and raised on a farm. We were just farm kids.” Stilgenbauer has established the Nolan D. Stilgenbauer Agricultural Scholarship Fund to provide scholarships to graduating seniors of Shepherd High School who are pursuing a career in the field of agriculture.

Farming has always been a family affair. Stilgenbauer’s great-grand parents, Henry and Laura Stilgenbauer, came to Shepherd from Wilmont, Ohio in 1887. Henry cleared forty acres just south of the Merillat School. He was a carpenter and built houses and barns in the Mt. Pleasant and Shepherd area. Nolan was born in 1933 to Royal (Pud) and Shirley, on the Ed Graichen farm on Millbrook Rd. (Grandparents, Glen and Nina Stilgenbauer, farmed there for 28 Years.) He attended Merillat School through the eighth grade.

Nolan enjoy everything about farm life. He has collected over 180 John Deer scale models and 130 farm show pieces. “I enjoy looking at them,” he said. “Some of them date back to the 1930’s.”
Stilgenbauer went to work at Dow Chemical in 1951, but continued to help his dad and granddad on the farms. He served with the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers on construction for the U.S. Air Force in Alaska in 1954 and was discharged in 1955. He retired from Dow in 1988.

Make a Donation to the Nolan D. Stilgenbauer Agricultural Scholarship Fund

2010 Scholarship Award: $1,500

Scholarship Eligibility Criteria:

• Shall be a graduating senior from Shepherd High School.
• Be planning a career in the field of Agriculture.
• Demonstrate academic ability with a minimum of a 3.0 grade point average.
• Attend a university, college or community college.
• Have been active in a youth organization (i.e. 4H, Boy Scouts, Girl Scouts, Church Group, FFA).
  
  

Click Here for a list of examples of careers in agriculture.

Recipient Preferences:
In considering qualified applicants, reviewers will give preference to the following:

• Financial need shall be a factor as expressed in the applicant’s written essay.
• The desire to establish a career in the field of agriculture as expressed in the applicant’s
  written essay.
• Enjoy and actively participate in the outdoor sports of hunting and/or fishing.

Application Deadline: Thursday, March 11 2010 by 4 p.m.

PRINT OR DOWNLOAD AN APPLICATION for the Nolan D. Stilgenbauer Agricultural Scholarship