The American Royal is a champion for food and agriculture as it reaches over 400,000 people each year, including over 10,000 students through programs and outreach, provides over 100 scholarships for academic excellence and achievements and hosts more than 3,000 contestants and teams in nationally recognized competitive events. Programs such as the decades-old tradition of bringing elementary school classrooms to American Royal events through Field Trips during our Rodeo and Livestock Show, partnerships with organizations such as the National FFA, National 4-H Organization, Agriculture Future of America (AFA), Girl Scouts, and Greater Kansas City Science & Engineering Fair, and outreach programs to local high school animal health programs, help build future food and agriculture leaders.
Collectively, the American Royal awards over $650,000 annually in scholarship funds, including the Royal and Veterinary Scholars programs. The Royal Scholars are a select group of college students that are pursuing careers in agriculture. The Royal Scholars program is designed to provide an opportunity for these outstanding college students to advocate the agriculture, food and natural resource industries and develop leadership skills. The Veterinary Scholars program, in partnership with the University of Missouri-Columbia and Kansas State University, provides not only scholarship funds but practical experience opportunities through the Livestock shows. Scholarships are also awarded to equine and livestock exhibitors, rodeo contestants and the World Series of Barbecue® competitors.
Each year, the American Royal offers unique opportunities for competitive learning to both youth and adults. These opportunities build character, strength, and skills through competition inside and outside of the show arena. Exhibitors and competitors as young as 3 years old come to the Royal each fall to show off their livestock, equestrian skills, rodeo and even barbecue talent at the Kids Que.