Del Mar resident Anna Sohn will use her Don Diego college scholarship to promote agriculture

Among the 18 stellar San Diego County students sharing $55,000 in 2022 Don Diego Scholarship Foundation college scholarships is Anna Sohn of Del Mar, who will use her $1,000 Zable Foundation 4-H scholarship to major in business administration and public policy at the University of Michigan.

Anna Sohn with Comet the goat

(Courtesy)

Anna is steeped in the San Diego County Fair, which is within walking distance of her home and where her involvement made her eligible for the scholarship. She relates, “The fair has always been a subject of family lore. It was where my uncle held his first job and where my mom showed her champion chicken, ‘Top Knot.’ In elementary school, I, too, showed my chickens at the fair. I washed them in the bathtub, clipped their nails, and blew them dry.”

As Anna grew older, she switched from chickens to goats, but never lost her passion for animals, her penchant for hard work, her willingness to get down and dirty (for one job, she cleaned up manure), or her love of the fair. While many 4-H kids in the backcountry had acres, Anna jokes that her domain was “500 square feet of backyard farming paradise smack in the middle of Del Mar.”

Now that she graduates with a 4.52 GPA, including in AP, honors and advanced classes, at highly competitive Francis Parker School in San Diego, Anna has kickstarted the life of a nearly dead newborn goat, learned to be calm under pressure, gained what she terms “confidence, drive and passion,” and is ready and fully able to kickstart her career.

She says, “I plan to examine the business world through an agriculturally-sensitive lens while using my public policy knowledge to develop policies that promote and protect the agriculture industry.”

Anna confirms, “It is so rewarding to be honored by a Foundation that means so much to me. My experiences in 4-H and the fair have been incredibly formative. I feel like I’ve grown up on these Fairgrounds and they have shaped me into the person I am today.”

The Don Diego Scholarship Foundation was named for Don Diego, AKA Tom Hernandez, who served as the fair’s welcoming goodwill ambassador from 1947-1984. Since its inception in 1986, the Foundation has awarded $1,276,844 in scholarships to 362 students and in agriculture education grants. More information is at www.dondiegoscholarship.org and www.facebook.com/DonDiegoScholarship. -- Don Diego Foundation news release