Students Awarded Agricultural Banking Scholarships

The Wisconsin Bankers Foundation has awarded UW-Platteville senior Alexis Boston and UW-River Falls junior Joseph Schlies with the 2021 Agricultural Banking Scholarship. The scholarship is given to two students who plan to go into a career in agriculture finance and who demonstrate in their application a strong understanding of the importance of financial literacy.
Boston is a declared agribusiness major expected to graduate this December. She has worked as an agribusiness professor assistant at UW-Platteville and currently is involved in many on-campus and community organizations including UW-Platteville’s Agribusiness Club, the Collegiate Farm Bureau, and the National Agri-Marketing Association.
Schlies is a declared agricultural business major. He currently holds two positions at the college as a teaching assistant in the Agricultural Economics Department and as a residential assistant. Previously, Schlies was the state president for the Wisconsin Association of FFA State Officers. He is also actively involved on his campus as the vice chair of the Finance Committee and at-large senator of the Student Government Association.
“Joseph and Alexis’s passion for agricultural finance and making an impact on their community is foundational to the qualifications for the Foundation’s Agricultural Banking Scholarship,” said Foundation Chair Rose Oswald Poels. “I am pleased that we are able to honor their achievements with this scholarship and wish them each much success in their future agribusiness careers.”

Alexis Boston accepts 2021 Agricultural Banking Scholarship from WBF Chair Rose Oswald Poels. Also pictured are: Nicholas Felder, vice president – commercial/ag banking at MidWestOne Bank; Chad Bahr, assistant vice president – agribusiness lending officer at Mound City Bank; and Donna Hoppenjan, president and CEO of Mound City Bank.
Joseph Schlies accepts 2021 Agricultural Banking Scholarship from WBF Chair Rose Oswald Poels. Also pictured are: Dr. Dale Gallenberg, dean of the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences; Dr. Brenda Boetel, professor and chair of the Agricultural Economics Department; Dr. Sierra Howry, associate professor of agricultural economics; and Tony Betley, vice president – senior agricultural banker at Nicolet Bank.