Elena Cotton Betteridge Named NSBA Foundation’s T. Joe Jeane Scholarship Recipient
Photo courtesy of NSBA.
From NSBA:
The National Snaffle Bit Association Foundation is pleased to announce that Elena Cotton Betteridge, of Bryan, Texas, has been named the recipient of the 2026 T. Joe Jeane Memorial Scholarship.
Elena grew up in Spanish Fork, Utah, where she was active in 4-H before moving to Texas as she began high school. There, she became involved in high school rodeo events. Elena was also active as secretary of her FFA chapter and a member of the National Honor Society.
During her freshman year at Texas A&M University, she joined the school’s Horse Judging Team and became a national judging champion. She was also an officer with Texas A&M’s Horsemen’s Association.
Elena is completing her first year of veterinary school at the Texas A&M College of Veterinary and Biomedical Sciences, where she plans to pursue a career in equine sports medicine. She serves as a first year representative of the Texas A&M Student Chapter of the American Association of Equine Practitioners. Elena currently works as an equine infectious diseases research student technician and also volunteers in the SCAAEP wet lab.
About the NSBA Foundation’s T. Joe Jeane Memorial Scholarship
The T. Joe Jeane Memorial Scholarship is a multi-year scholarship awarded to an NSBA member following the completion of their first year of veterinary school, and is a $12,000 scholarship distributed equally over the remaining three years.
The scholarship is presented once every three years to one deserving second-year veterinary medical student attending an AVMA-accredited institution. Selection criteria includes financial need, academic merit, active involvement in the horse industry, equine husbandry, community involvement, communication skills and demonstrated leadership ability.
T. Joe Jeane was the son of long-time NSBA members Joe and Suzy Jeane, and spent the majority of his youth at his parent’s ranch, Down The Rail, in Valley View, Texas. Joe had earned a bachelor’s degree from Louisiana State University and a masters in medical sciences from Mississippi Baptist College and had begun to pursue his dream of earning a degree in veterinary medicine at the time of his death in 2021.
To learn more about the T. Joe Jeane Scholarship, please visit nsba.com/education.
