California FFA student Brendy Puckett earns inaugural $10,000 scholarship from Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA)
Livestock exhibitions are a hallmark of local and state fairs, and teaching our student exhibitors how to care for their animals in preparation for the fair season is an important opportunity to pass on these important skills and values.
Livestock exhibitors participating in a fair in the Network of California Fairs are required to participate in Youth for the Quality Care of Animals (YQCA), a national, multi-species quality assurance program for youth ages 8 to 21. In 2025, YQCA begins its inaugural scholarship program, with a total of $30,000 going to seven students chosen from among the approximately 76,000 annual users throughout the US – including more than 15,000 in California this year.
The top scholarship award of $10,000 goes to Brendy Puckett, a senior at Peter Johansen High School in Modesto, who participates in FFA. In the award announcement, YQCA noted, “Brendy stood out as an exceptional candidate due to her deep-rooted passion for agriculture, her experience raising multiple species of livestock, her commitment to learning and growth, and her aspiration to become an agriculture teacher — a path through which she hopes to inspire future generations of agricultural leaders.”
The YQCA Board has two California representatives: Tara Beach with the UC Davis School of Veterinary Medicine, and JessaLee Goehring with the California FFA Association, California Department of Education.
The YQCA program focuses on three pillars: Food Safety, Animal Well-Being, and Character Development. All livestock exhibitors who show animals during the annual fairs in California must take this age-based training annually. YQCA was developed back in 2017, and CDFA’s Fairs & Expositions Branch began requiring the training the following year. YQCA is available as an online program for youth everywhere in the US, and certification is also available through instructor-led training and a test-out program. YQCA collects fees for providing the curriculum and training, funding both the program’s operations and the scholarships.
