Mid-Atlantic Alliance of Cooperatives: Gilkinson, Schriver named leaders

STATE COLLEGE, Pa. – The Mid-Atlantic Alliance of Cooperatives presented leadership awards to Amanda Gilkinson of Wattsburg, Pa., and Henry Schriver of Belden, Ohio.
Gilkinson received the Horizon award and Schriver received the Hal F. Doran Cooperative Business Education award.
Other recipients included Gerald Strickler of Newmanstown, Pa., Cooperative Education award; and Clifford McElrah, recognized posthumously.
Gilkinson. The Horizon award is presented to an outstanding young or emerging cooperative leader.
Gilkinson, who will graduate in December from The Behrend College at Penn State Erie, first became involved with Mid-Atlantic Alliance of Cooperatives in 1996 at a regional one-day business leadership training workshop.
In 1998 she was selected as a scholar in the National Institute of Cooperative Education, and she now serves on the permanent staff for the Mid-Atlantic Alliance of Cooperatives Summer Institute.
Schriver. Schriver, Ohio farmer philosopher and cooperative educator, has been a public speaker since 1961 and is recognized both nationally and internationally as a motivator of thousands of youth, young farmers, directors, employees and other co-op members.
He first gave his now famous “Cows, Kids and Co-ops” speech for the Cleveland Farmers Club for dairy month.
It has since been seen around the world in a film used for education programs.
Shriver was inducted this year into the National Cooperative Hall of Fame in Washington and also received the 50th Anniversary Medal authorized by Congress and presented by the Federal Land Bank of Louisville for contributions to American agriculture.
Strickler. Strickler has been involved with the cooperative education program and Mid-Atlantic Alliance of Cooperatives, and, previously, the Pennsylvania Cooperative Council, since 1989.
He has served as a member of the permanent staff of the Summer Institute since 1995, and is co-chair of the Institute Second Year Program.
McElrath. McElrath, a former vocational agriculture teacher at Mount Union School District, was recognized for his work with the alliance’s One-Day Business and Leadership Training Program in the south-central region of Pennsylvania.
McElrath established the Cliff McElrath Memorial Scholarship Fund to benefit vocational-agricultural students from his school who are pursuing higher education.