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Turner receives scholarship
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Warren County High School student and Future Farmers of American member John Turner is the recipient of a $1,000 Ford Truck/ Built Ford Tough scholarship.
“I feel to enter college and be successful you must have a good foundation,” said Turner. “I feel I have found that through scholarships such as the Kidd Ford scholarship.”
The scholarship was awarded by the National FFA Organization. Kidd Ford, as a special project of the National FFA Foundation, sponsors the scholarship.
“Scholarships are a way for businesses to give back to the community,” said Terry Kidd, the owner of Kidd Ford. “It’s worthwhile to give a student the opportunity to go to college. We are glad that people support are business and we can, in turn, support a student’s desire to go to college. I’m glad to do it.”
This scholarship is one of 1,539 to be awarded through the National FFA Scholarship Program this year. Currently, 130 sponsors generously contribute more than $1.9 million to support this program. This is the 28th year scholarships have been made available through the National FFA Foundation by individuals and business and industry sponsors to reward and encourage excellence and enable students to pursue their educational goals.
Turner says he plans to use the funds to pursue a degree at Tennessee Tech and he appreciates Kidd Ford for its support of schools with fundraisers like Drive One 4UR School and higher education with scholarships.
“I feel truly blessed to have been given this scholarship which will help me on my journey through attaining a higher education,” Turner added. “I can’t thank Kidd Ford enough for its continued support of education.”

Local farm partnership brings fresh beef to Warren County Schools
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Warren County Schools has beefed up lunch menus this school year through a new community partnership. Thanks to a collaboration between the district’s School Nutrition Department and Barton Creek Farms, students at Warren County High School, Warren County Middle School, West Elementary, Eastside Elementary, and Dibrell Elementary are enjoying locally sourced, farm-fresh beef in their lunches as part of a pilot program.

The initiative, spearheaded by Terri Mullican, Director of School Nutrition, has already shown great promise in its first few months. The partnership with Barton Creek Farms, located in Rock Island, Tennessee, ensures that the beef served is not only local to Warren County but of the highest quality. Barton Creek Farms specializes in farm-to-fork beef, with grass-fed and grain-finished cattle. Each calf is born and raised in Rock Island and goes through USDA-inspected processing, ensuring it meets the strictest safety and quality standards.

“When the opportunity arose to provide fresh, local beef, we knew it was a no-brainer,” Mullican said. “The fact that it’s a product from right here in our community makes it even more special. We can’t wait to implement it district-wide.”

Barton Creek Farms delivers fresh ground beef to the district monthly, and the nutrition

department incorporates it into homemade recipes such as lasagna, meatloaf, chili, and tacos.

As of now, the beef is being served at five schools, but the ultimate goal is to expand the program to all ten lunch-serving schools in the district.

The pilot program originated from a conversation between Mary Roller of Barton Creek Farms and Mullican. Roller, recognizing the farm’s potential to support local schools, reached out to gauge the district’s interest in serving local beef to students. Around the same time, a Warren County school board member contacted Mullican to share information about a similar partnership in neighboring Dekalb County, which helped push the initiative forward.

The timing worked in the district’s favor, as the nutrition department was able to fund the purchase of the beef using existing resources, eliminating the need for additional funding. Now that the pilot program is enjoying a successful run, the department has budgeted to extend the partnership district-wide for the 2025-26 school year.

Dr. Grant Swallows, Director of Schools, praised the program’s economic approach to student nutrition.

“This pilot is a perfect example of how we can use local resources to continue providing nutritious, healthy meals for our students,” he said. “We are grateful for partnerships like this one that benefit both our students and our local community. We always strive to support our local businesses when we can because our community is so good to us.”

In addition to working with Warren County Schools, Barton Creek Farms also partners with local restaurants to offer farm-fresh beef on their menus. The farm’s offerings include ground beef, steaks, roasts, and custom cuts by the quarter, half, or whole cow, meeting diverse consumer needs.

As the program continues to grow, the district hopes to expand its focus on farm-to-school meals, benefiting students’ health and connecting them to the agricultural roots of the community