Liza Hearmon is relishing the extra studies the Seymour Ag Society Scholarship has allowed her to undertake.
The third-year Bachelor of Agricultural Science student at the University of Melbourne won this year’s $5000 scholarship, which she said had given her the financial freedom to focus more on her studies.
“I’ve been working full-time while studying and this year is the first year where I have been working part-time,” she said.
“The financial freedom (the scholarship) has given me is amazing.
“I’ve been able to pay for some of my subjects in advance.”
Ms Hearmon said the scholarship enabled her to do two intensives, which ran for a week each, where she learnt about wines in Australia and how to make the wine.
She first heard about the scholarship when she worked at a shearing shed with Tony Wallis, one of the main organisers of the award.
Mr Wallis recommended that she apply for the scholarship, which she did after reading more about it in the newspaper.
“I wasn’t too sure,” she said.
“It was actually funny when I was applying for it, it was when all the power outages were going on.
“It took a lot longer than expected because I couldn’t get emails.
“It was a bit of an adventure, but when I got the scholarship, I was very overwhelmed.”
Ms Hearmon’s primary interest is in genetics and animal nutrition, particularly in sheep, especially since she has working dogs and sheep of her own.
“It’s so interesting to see how one thing happens in an animal, it comes out completely different,” she said.
“(It’s also interesting) how farmers can breed to avoid certain things and farmers breed to make their stock better.
“Some farmers breed for meat, some for wool, some farmers breed for both.”
She said genetics felt like a wide, diverse subject and she enjoyed exploring it.
Besides studies, Ms Hearmon has her hands full as president of her university’s agricultural society and competing nationally on the meat judging team.
“I was on the general committee last year and when the role came up for president, I just put my hand up,” she said.
“It has been a busy role, but I just love it.
“I like leading all these people and do great things, especially helping people coming to the bachelor in their first year.”
As another extra-curricular activity, Ms Hearmon learnt about meat judging and made it to the 2024 team which will compete in Wagga Wagga in July.
“Meat judging is where we learn about meat science ... we learn about the cuts of meat like the butchers have, carcases and everything else,” she said.
“We go to a competition held in Wagga (Wagga) ... it’s the ICMJ (Australian Intercollegiate Meat Judging Association) competition, and we compete against other unis that do it.”
Ms Hearmon competed in the 2023 competition where eight universities and two international teams from the United States and South Korea competed.
She said she enjoyed the competition and was grateful for everyone she met there.
“It was probably the best thing I’ve done in uni,” she said.
“It was unreal, and then the opportunity came up to coach the team.”
Ms Hearmon is set to graduate mid-next year. Her plans for the future are open, but one thing is for sure.
“I will definitely be travelling somewhere and doing genetics,” she said.
“Hopefully, I’ll be able to take my dogs with me, which would be really good.
“I want to eventually step into a leadership position.
“Probably at the start, I’m just looking to learn more about the industry.”