IL Pork ambassador named

Eileen Urish, the daughter of Tim & Deborah Urish, from Kilbourne, IL has been named the 2017 Illinois Pork Ambassador during the Illinois Pork Expo on January 31-February 1 in Springfield.

The Illinois Pork Ambassador will work alongside the Illinois Pork Producers Association (IPPA) staff during the summer. The purpose of the ambassador program is to provide an opportunity for a young person to serve for one year as the official youth representative of the Illinois Pork Producers Association. The ambassador will work on many projects throughout the year, some of which include the birthing center at the Illinois State Fair, summer ag institutes, working with county ambassadors and the youth committee, and promoting the youth involvement in the pork industry.

Eileen is currently a Freshman at the University of Illinois at Urbana Champaign studying Agricultural and Consumer Economics with a concentration in Finance. She is part of the 4-H Cooperative Sorority and a Jonathan Baldwin Turner (JBT) scholar.

In addition to growing up on a commercial hog farm, she also showed pigs growing up. This gave her a passion for agriculture and taught her many life lessons. Eileen has been a Mason County Pork Ambassador, attend the Illinois Pork Leadership Institute (IPLI) trip multiple times, and was named Outstanding County Ambassador in 2015.

“This experience can only help build a better foundation for my future through the opportunities it provides,” says Eileen. “I want to help promote an industry that I am so passionate for and that has given so much to me.”