Washington Apple Education Foundation Gets New Leader

Posted by Paul Rusnak|May 23, 2013

At its annual meeting held earlier this month in Yakima, members of the Washington Apple Education Foundation (WAEF) Board of Directors elected Miles Kohl to serve as its chairman. Kohl has been a member of the board of directors since 2010. He is the CEO of Allan Brothers located in Naches.

Kohl followed Brian Alegria as chairman. Alegria, the CEO of CPC International Apple Company in Tieton, will continue on the board of directors serving on WAEF’s executive committee as immediate past chairman.

Also elected at the meeting were Jeff Fagg, vice president/account manager for Northwest Farm Credit Services in Moses Lake, to serve as vice-chairman; Rachel Sullivan, CEO of Crane & Crane in Brewster, to serve as secretary; and Dwaine Brown, CFO at Tree Top in Selah, to serve as treasurer.

Kohl received a scholarship from the Washington Apple Commission a few years before the inception of WAEF. “I can attest to the importance of scholarships. My parents are apple growers and were impacted by stories of Alar in the late 1980s just as I prepared to attend college. Paying for college suddenly became a much greater obstacle,” said Kohl.

WAEF honored retiring board member and long-time foundation treasurer Stan Scheumann during the annual meeting. Scheumann joined the board of directors in 2004 and was first elected treasurer in 2006. He is the controller at Auvil Fruit Company in Orondo. Berti Stewart, WAEF chairman 2011-12, was also recognized for her leadership and service to WAEF. Stewart, of Prosser, was a member of the WAEF board of directors from 2006 – 2013. She is employed by ProAg.

In other WAEF news, the Farmworker Education Committee selected 10 recipients this spring to receive grants for their activities fostering and promoting scholastic success for farmworkers and their families. In total, $24,222 was awarded to community and school programs through the WAEF Farmworker/Ag Worker Education program this year.

The grant selection committee made award decisions focusing on the four key priorities of the program: to reduce high school drop-out rates and improve higher level education achievement rates of at-risk students; to improve long-term learning outcomes through access to effective early education programs; to increase economic self-sufficiency and further generational upward mobility; and to improve cross-cultural communications through English language literacy.

Here is a list of the 2013 grant recipients.