2009 Rogers Scholars graduate Luke King of Cumberland County has been named a state winner in the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Outstanding Farm Bureau Youth contest.

King will receive a $2,000 college scholarship and will be attending the 2010 Kentucky Farm Bureau Congressional Tour to Washington, D.C., in February.

He was selected from 21 district finalists out of more than 175 young people to compete in county and district contests held over several months. Finalists were judged in personal interviews, and points awarded based on contestants’ leadership record, conversational ability, and scholastic achievement.

As a graduate of The Center for Rural Development’s Rogers Scholars program, King said the skills and training he received during the intensive one-week summer session helped him to prepare for the competition.

“The communications skills I developed through the Rogers Scholars program proved to be very beneficial,” he said. “I was able to clearly communicate with the judges, audience, and my fellow contestants, and I was able to deliver my speech in such a way that it proved to be effective.”

During the backstage interview portion of the contest, he said, the etiquette training he received at a formal dinner attended by Rogers Scholars came in handy in knowing “how to properly introduce myself and present myself throughout the interview.”

“I am extremely grateful to the Rogers Scholars program for the many skills that I developed through the program,” King said.

King, son of David and Kathy King of Burkesville, is a junior at Cumberland County High School.

Rogers Scholars program—The Center’s flagship youth program—emphasizes the development of technological skills and builds in participants a sense of leadership, an entrepreneurial spirit, and a commitment to rural Kentucky.

The Center for Rural Development—the Center of Excellence for rural Kentucky and the nation—provides economic and community development programs to residents in a 42-county primary service area of Southern and Eastern Kentucky, and is home to several statewide and national technology-based programs. For more information on programs available through The Center, visit www.centertech.com.

Photo Caption: 2009 Rogers Scholars graduate Luke King has been named one of two state winners in the Kentucky Farm Bureau’s Outstanding Farm Bureau Youth contest. He said the training he received as a Rogers Scholar helped him to prepare for the competition. King, a senior at Cumberland County High School, will receive a $2,000 college scholarship and trip to Washington, D.C., attending the 2010 Kentucky Farm Bureau Congressional Tour in February.