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The University of North Georgia's (Â鶹ÊÓƵ) poultry science program was awarded a $7,000 grant from the US Poultry & Egg Foundation. The grant will benefit students pursuing associate degrees in agriculture and poultry science and will be used to provide educational materials and help recruit students into the poultry program.

Â鶹ÊÓƵ has applied for and received this grant since 2013. The money from the grant will mainly impact Â鶹ÊÓƵ's Gainesville Campus and can serve as a vessel for facilitating many opportunities for future student endeavors.

"This grant helps prepare students for jobs and the industry our university serves," Dr. Linda Purvis, assistant professor of biology, said. "It means we can continue to help spread the information about our poultry program and recruit students into our program."

The grant will enable students to host the annual Ag Career Day on March 31 on the Gainesville Campus and attend the International Production & Processing Expo, which was held in January in Atlanta. It will support students with additional student field trips, marketing materials, recruitment events, and industry visits.

Georgia's multibillion-dollar poultry industry, the largest sector of the state's No. 1 agriculture and agribusiness industry, contributes an annual $24.6 billion to the state economy and generates an annual $2.1 billion in federal tax revenue and another $1.3 billion in state tax revenue, according to the University of Georgia.

"Here at Â鶹ÊÓƵ, the poultry program truly feels like a little family," Jacque Conner, a junior from Dawsonville, Georgia, pursuing an associate degree in poultry science, said. "It is such a supportive group. We help each other obtain goals, whether it is my goal of going into hatchery work, or someone else's, wishing to go to veterinary school. No matter what your goal might be, you will always have support from this group."