BATHURST'S Jessica Fernley has been named the 2022 Sydney Royal Easter Show Rural Achiever, standing out in field of eight impressive finalists.
This year's winner was announced at a function held in the Sky Deck, Olympic Park, on Tuesday night, which capped off an action-packed week for the Rural Achiever finalists.
The RAS Rural Achiever award is a state-wide program run by the RAS of NSW to help shine a light on emerging young leaders aged 20-29, who are focused on contributing to their communities and regional Australia.
Having recently completed a bachelor's degree rural science at University of New England Jessica is currently completing a masters in global development through James Cook University, with the hopes of helping build resilience in farming communities.
"All of the finalists are wonderful, impressive people and I am just so humbled to receive this honour from this terrific program," Ms Fernley told The Land.
"Being here at the Sydney Royal this week has just been such a wonderful experience and I have learned so much during the past week or so."
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The achievers' have been well lead during their time at the show by chaperone, Prue McCormack, Gresford, a former achiever herself, who has overseen the group while they have taken in personal development training, networking opportunities and even a brush with royalty when they met Princess Anne during her visit to the show.
"Previously, I hadn't had too much experience with the Sydney Royal Easter Show, so to go behind the scenes and see all the hard work everyone puts in was why I applied," Ms Fernley said.
"It's hard to know where to begin when pinpointing what I learned from this experience because I took so much away from it.
"I think the biggest thing might be to be more confident in my message, what I am passionate about and what I believe in."
As the state winner of the 2022 Rural Ambassador, Jessica will now go on to represent NSW in the national finals (which includes New Zealand).
"Some of the big reasons I got involved was that I've had a lot of people who have come before me that said it was such a wonderful experience, which could really help my personal development and it has more than words can say," Ms Fernley said.
"Learning about all of the other Rural Achievers in the program was truly a highlight.
"On top of that, I really learned just how supportive the agriculture industry is as a whole and just how passionate they can be about their particular fields.
"I also learned how to lead an alpaca, which was such a cool experience and not one I will soon forget."
The other finalists included: Meg Austin, Broken Hill, Lucy Collingridge, Armidale, Alister Meek, Hobbys Yards, Carl Schubert, Dungog, Katy Armson-Graham, Padstow, Miranda McGufficke, Cooma and Nicole Cowling, Maclean.
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