Menai’s Sarah Waldron-Jones has won a top honour at the Sydney Royal Easter Show – taking out the RAS/ASC Fruit and Vegetable Young Judges Competition state final.
Despite winning the title, Sarah doesn’t even hail from a family working in agriculture.
It was the small agricultural program at her former school, Menai High School, which first inspired her.
“I liked learning about where food comes from and I’ve always liked animals,” she said. “But it was my teacher at Menai High who encouraged me to continue studying agriculture.”
Sarah continued her education and achieved a Bachelor of Agricultural Science at University of Sydney, following her interest in agriculture.
She won her award during the Easter show which finished last Wednesday.
She hopes to continue judging at the Sydney Royal Easter Show and this year also worked as a competition steward in the open classes.
The young judges competition is jointly run by the Royal Agricultural Society and the Agricultural Societies Council of NSW. The competition is open to people aged between 15 and 24 and encourages the development of expertise critical to the ongoing improvement of produce in the agricultural sector.
This year, 11 of the 14 young judges state finalists were women.