Recently, while attending the Rolex Three Day Event at the Kentucky Horse Park, I learned - practically by accident - about a unique equine program attracting talented students from across the country. And, it's just four miles up Ironworks Pike and I-75.
I was riding in a golf cart driven by Rolex volunteer Stacy Durham, a bright young lady from Hawaii. I couldn't resist asking her what brought her all the way to the Bluegrass State. Her reply: the Equine Scholars Program at Georgetown College.
Durham's opportunity, and that of the many equine scholars like her, really began a little over four years ago when Dr. William H. Crouch, Jr., president of Georgetown College, went to the people involved in the horse industry in Central Kentucky to see if they saw any unmet educational needs. He discovered that there was a need for a liberal arts education with an equine context. So a program was developed to enable qualified students to obtain this first-class education while participating in equine-related opportunities and internships available only in the "Horse Capital of the World." The most recent opportunity came for freshman scholar Heather Johnston of Wisconsin, who got to be the Web site intern for Rolex Kentucky.
Certainly, the campus's proximity to the Horse Park coupled with the upcoming 2010 Alltech FEI World Equestrian Games is a boon to the Equine Scholars Program. But even before the WEG announcement was made, everyone associated with the pro-gram knew it would really take off when the pilot program's scholars Maggie Daniels of Charleston, W.Va., Angie Fischer of Villa Hills, Ky., and Katie Fitzgerald of Versailles came with so much promise. The ESP now numbers 42 students and is so successful it's been named Georgetown's first Program of Distinction. Based on the same basic concept as the Equine Scholars Program, the college's Global Scholars Program will start with 10 students this fall.
Equine Scholars entered at different levels, including several upper-classmen who were accomplished equestrians previous to enrollment, so there have already been numerous grad-uates. Brittany Pappas, who completed the program last year, received a prestigious Fulbright Scholarship and is studying in Germany. Georgetown native Ashley Craig was accepted into vet school at Tuskegee University, and Louisville's Jason Ross, who interned in the equine lending department of Fifth Third Bank - the first business to endow one of these Georgetown scholarships - now works there. In the current class of graduates, Maggie Daniels interned for the World Equestrian Games and has been hired full-time as the equine relations/special projects coordinator.
Ross, Daniels, and the graduating Nick Spalding of Paris, Ky., have all been President's Ambassadors, liaisons between President Crouch and the student body. Rising junior Katie Henderson of California, Ky., will have that same leadership role the next two years.
The program also presented a great new opportunity for executive director Jen Roytz, who couldn't pass up becoming the new marketing and communications director for Three Chimneys Farm. But she's enjoyed the ESP so much she will continue as a volunteer, and she's helping in the search for her replacement.
Program coordinator Cecilia Koch, interacts with the scholars on a daily basis, helping them balance their academics, riding passions, other extra-curricular activities, and internships.
I had never stopped to think of the many careers involving horses. Of course, there are the obvious ones: farrier (blacksmith), veterinarians, horse trainers, jockeys and farm managers. Then there are those careers that never entered my mind until I started reading about this program, such as horse welfare advocates, tack shop owners or tack shop repair specialists, equine dentists and equine insurance agents. There are even racetrack or farm chaplains, as well as financial advisors and equine lenders, media specialists, fence contractors, bloodstock agents and extension agents. The list goes on.
Georgetown College has surely added something unique that complements their curriculum and provides trained young people to help carry on the many things involved in keeping this area the "Horse Capital of the World."