A reception honoring 2001 National Agricultural Alumni and Development Association (NAADA) award winners, volunteers and sponsors was likewise the occasion for the signing of the Rick Smith Agricultural Institute Scholarship. During the ceremonies Smith presented Dean Jim Oblinger with a check for $7,500, to be matched with a gift from Brown and Williamson Tobacco Co., to fully endow the scholarship. Smith, of Wilson, is a graduate of the Agricultural Institute and works for Export Leaf Tobacco Co. He is a founding member of the board of advisers of the CALS Alumni Society and served on the steering committee for NAADA 2001, helping to raise a record-setting $36,000 in sponsorship for the conference. The Smith Scholarship will go to the student with the highest GPA at the end of his or her first year in the two-year Institute. Dr. Ken Esbenshade, director of academic programs for the College, welcomed the new scholarship which recognizes stellar students in the Agricultural Institute. In funding the scholarship in perpetuity, Smith said, “I’m repaying a debt. Everything I’ve accomplished in my life is because of the Agricultural Institute.”