Delana Sehnert receives vocational education scholarship

The Don Diego Scholarship Foundation gave 2020 Fallbrook High School graduate Delana Sehnert a vocational education scholarship.

Although the 2020 San Diego County Fair was canceled due to the coronavirus outbreak and the market livestock show was held virtually rather than at the fairgrounds, the Don Diego Scholarship Foundation awarded scholarships to 22 recipients. Sehnert received this year's only vocational education scholarship.

"Very grateful," Sehnert said.

The Don Diego Scholarship Foundation has seven categories of scholarships.

"I was going to apply for one of the Don Diego scholarships," Sehnert said.

Sehnert actually applied for two: the Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship and the Vocational Education Scholarship.

"I'm so grateful that I won the vocational scholarship, because that is more than what I would have got if I had won the Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship," Sehnert said.

Sehnert received $2,500 for her Vocational Education Scholarship. The Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship amounts ranged from $5,000 to $1,000.

The Vocational Education Scholarship was established in 2015.

"We just started that," Juanita Hayes, who is the chair of the Don Diego Scholarship Foundation board of directors, said. "We noticed that some of the people do want to go vocational."

Sehnert plans to attend Paul Mitchell the School in Temecula and become a cosmetologist.

"I just liked how they had one that was for my profession," she said of the Vocational Education Scholarship.

"I think it's a good thing," Hayes said. "It's invaluable to be able to help as many kids as we can. It really helps reach out to students."

Sehnert's mother Trisha owns Bello Lei Salon, and the staff members there inspired Sehnert to become a cosmetologist.

"They all just love their job," Sehnert said. Sehnert may or may not take over Bello Lei Salon after her mother retires, she said.

"Right now I'm just going to get my license and see what happens," she said. A cosmetologist's license requires approximately 1,600 hours of class and practice.

Most of the money for the Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship program is from market livestock auction buyers who then donate their animals back to the fair for resale with those proceeds being used for scholarships, while a small amount for that scholarship fund is from direct donations. The total scholarship amount varies from year to year depending on the amount of donations. The students are ranked, a bar chart with scores but not names is shown to the selection committee and the committee uses that chart to allocate the scholarship money for each position. This year six students received a Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship including Fallbrook High School senior Madison Causey.

As the only Vocational Education Scholarship recipient this year, Sehnert had fewer position opportunities for that award.

"It was obviously a little bit harder," she said.

This year Sehnert raised two pigs and a steer. The steer was a Maine cross named Monroe, who was born in February 2019.

"I knew my steer was really good, and I knew I definitely had a chance," Sehnert said.

Monroe weighed 1,250 pounds when he was placed on the scale shortly before the 90-second virtual presentation was uploaded and sent to the fair for judging. The weight classes for each species of large animal were based on the number of entrants rather than by pre-determined weights.

"I was in a pretty heavy class," Sehnert said.

Monroe was selected as the heavyweight class champion.

"It was pretty cool. I wasn't expecting it," Sehnert said.

The June 25 awards presentation was held virtually. Sehnert watched it from her barn on her iPad.

"It was pretty cool seeing my name on the video," she said.

Fallbrook FFA swept the top heavyweight positions; Jacob Brown raised a 1,375-pound steer who was the heavyweight reserve champion.

"It was really rewarding," Sehnert said of Fallbrook FFA sweeping the top two heavyweight positions. "I liked winning the class with Jacob. It was nice to represent Fallbrook."

Both of Sehnert's pigs were born in November, although they were not littermates, and Sehnert acquired them in January. They were both males and both crosses. Both pigs were scaled at 256 pounds.

"They were both in the same weight class," Sehnert said. "I was competing against myself."

Sehnert did not name either of her pigs. They placed second and fourth in the heavyweight class.

All three of Sehnert's animals were pre-sold.

FFA has an alumni year provision for students who graduated from high school the previous school year. The county fair allows those partaking in their FFA alumni year to enter youth exhibits. Since Sehnert will be attending cosmetology school in Temecula, she could raise one or more animals during her alumni year.

"I've been thinking about doing it. I'm not sure right now," she said.

Sehnert served as the FFA chapter historian as a junior. In addition to her FFA activity, Sehnert was also on Fallbrook High School's field hockey team. She made the varsity team as a freshman in 2016 and was also on the 2017 varsity team. She did not play as a junior but returned for the 2019 season in which the Warriors won the CIF Division II championship.

She was also active in the National Charity League, and Sehnert compiled more than 400 hours of community service.

Sehnert was born at Fallbrook Hospital and attended Fallbrook schools from kindergarten through highschool.

An eight-person panel interviewed Sehnert by Zoom teleconference in mid-June.

"We didn't get to engage them in person," Hayes said.

The scholarships were announced June 24. Sehnert initially learned that she did not receive a Junior Livestock Auction Scholarship.

"I wasn't too sad about that," she said.

Instead she was announced as the winner of the Vocational Education Scholarship.

"It was rewarding to know I got that one," Sehnert said. "That gave me a lot of confidence knowing that I won one of them."

"We're happy that we got such a variety of students, that they came from the coast and the backcountry," Hayes said of the scholarship recipients.

Sehnert credited her scholarship award to her past work.

"It just shows that it hasn't gone to waste," she said.

Joe Naiman can be reached by email at [email protected].