Junior Milosh McAdoo is the seventh Aggie in the award’s history to be named as an HBCU Competitiveness Scholar. Other roles in which he has served have given him an understanding of advocating for others, he said.
The White House Initiative on Historically Black Colleges and Universities has selected Milosh McAdoo, a junior animal science (animal industry) major from Hillsborough, as a 2021 HBCU Competitiveness Scholar.
He is one of only 86 students to be chosen from 54 HBCUs nationwide to receive the honor, the initiative’s highest, based on academic achievements, campus leadership, civic engagement and entrepreneurial spirit. He is one of seven Aggies to have won the honor since the program’s beginning in 2014.
McAdoo is an N.C. A&T Cheatham-White Scholar and a member of the University Honors program.
Another Cheatham-White Scholar, senior Rachel Richards, a biology major from Cornelius, was also chosen for the program.
“We are thrilled for Milosh and Rachel as the first Cheatham-White Scholars selected as HBCU Competitiveness Scholars,” said Margaret I. Kanipes, Ph.D., A&T Honors Program director. “Milosh understands that agriculture touches all populations, despite divisions of race and class, and Rachel is focused on STEM research that helps marginalized communities across the world.
“I know both Milosh and Rachel will make valuable contributions to the White House Initiative on HBCUs on behalf of A&T.”
McAdoo completed a summer internship with the N.C. Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services as a Small and Minority Farms intern, and is a Land O’ Lakes Global Food Challenge emerging leader and intern.
He also is one of the four A&T students chosen to participate in the Z. Smith Reynolds Foundation-supported North Carolina Policy Innovation Leaders of Tomorrow 2021 (PILOT21) initiative.
McAdoo opted to attend an HBCU, specifically N.C. A&T, because of its land-grant status. N.C. A&T is the birthplace of Negro Farmers of America, which represented the interests of Black students interested in agriculturally-based careers before its membership joined Future Farmers of America (FFA) in 1965.
“While serving as a state vice president for the North Carolina FFA Association, leading nearly 20,000 agriculture students in their personal growth and career success, I understood the weight of advocating for others,” McAdoo said. “While in this role, I knew that I was not only sharing my own perspective, but also speaking for other underrepresented youth who navigated the organization similarly to me. This mentality has directly transferred to my future in agricultural communications, sharing the positive stories of animal agriculture and advocating for equity in the industry.”
Read more about Milosh McAdoo from his student profile in CAES News in August, 2020.
