The District 3 juniors from southwest Wisconsin hosted the annual Wisconsin Junior Holstein Convention where The Party Never Ends in Wisconsin Dells at the Kalahari Resort, January 1-3, 2010. Over 450 members, chaperones, and volunteers were in attendance and helped to make the weekend a huge success.
Throughout convention, junior members were encouraged to participate in numerous contests, including speaking, arts and crafts, photography, dairy jeopardy, and dairy quiz bowl. The largest competition of the weekend was dairy quiz bowl, in which 30 junior, 27 senior, and eight rookie teams competed.
Over 50 volunteers helped coordinate over 150 dairy bowl matches, dairy jeopardy contests, and speaking contests. At the end of Saturday afternoon, a junior team from Vernon County and a senior team from Door County earned the honor to represent Wisconsin at the National Holstein Convention in the Dairy Bowl contest in June. Vernon County team members included Kaleb Storm, Colin Landis, Thomas Larson, and Zach Servais. Door County’s team was comprised of Jacob Brey, Brandon Kruswick, Alex Kruswick, and Matt Olson. Coming in second place in both the junior and senior divisions were teams from Polk County. Polk’s junior team included Ethan and Trent Dado, Chris Rassier, and Cody Getschel. The senior team was comprised of Bethany Dado, Brett Getschel, Hans Johnson and Mary Johnson.
All juniors at convention had the chance to compete in the dairy jeopardy competition. The top competitor in each three age brackets for this event has the opportunity to compete at the National level. Qualifying this year in the junior division was Jordan Siemers of Manitowoc County, the intermediate division Austen Schmidt of Fond du Lac County, and the senior division Danielle Brown of Iowa County. Placing second and third in the junior division were Trent Dado of Polk County and Josh Siemers of Manitowoc County. In the intermediate division, Rachel Hartlaub of Manitowoc County took second and Mykayla Getschel of Polk County was thrid. In the senior division, Stephanie Nagel of Manitowoc County and Mary Johnson of Polk County placed second and third.
In the speaking contests, Wisconsin can send up to three delegates to compete at National Convention. To compete, juniors must prepare a speech of a topic related to the dairy industry at a length assigned to their specific age division. Those eligible this year are Ben Powers of Polk County, Courtney Moore of Vernon County, and Connor Siemers of Manitowoc County in the junior division. Kaitlyn Riley of Crawford County, Kathryn Swenson of Vernon County, and Charlie Hamilton of Grant County qualified in the intermediate division. There were no senior speaking participants at this year’s junior convention.
On Saturday evening, a banquet was held to honor those outstanding juniors in the association. Benjamin Kinnard of Door County and Danielle Brown of Iowa County claimed the most prestigious honor, being named Outstanding Holstein Boy and Girl.
Benjamin Kinnard and Danielle Brown
These individuals have excelled in their own Holstein programs, and have been an asset to the association and dairy industry. Also receiving honors were other Distinguished Junior Members, Younger Junior Distinguished Members, and 12 & Under youth all excelling in Wisconsin Holstein activities and the dairy industry.
Of the exceptional youth recognized, four representatives in the distinguished and younger distinguished member category were selected to represent Wisconsin at the National Holstein Convention, which will be hosted by Minnesota this June. Benjamin Kinnard of East Maplewood, Jacob Brey of Sturgeon Bay, Laura Elliott of Marshall and Maureen Lee of Johnson Creek were all chosen to represent Wisconsin as Distinguished Junior Members. The Younger Distinguished Member delegates include Cassy Krull of Lake Mills, Charlie Hamilton of Cuba City, Thomas Larson of Viroqua and Nicholas Schuster of Campbellsport.
The 2010 Wisconsin Holstein Princess and Attendant were also crowned at the Saturday evening banquet.
2010 WHA Princess and Princess Attendant, Hillary Hartley & Cara Biely
This year, Hillary Hartley of Crawford County will serve as the WHA Princess, and Cara Biely of Manitowoc County will join her as the WHA Princess Attendant.
A more recently developed event held during the banquet at convention was the Scholarship auction. There were various items auctioned off, including a clippers donated by Andis, UW-Madison Men’s Hockey tickets donated by Ted and Sandy Halbach, a certificate for a Bonnie Mohr print and UW-Madison Men’s Basketball tickets donated by Corey Geiger and Krista Knigge, another pair of men’s basketball tickets donated by the Rob Rippchen family, a signed pair of worn shoes from Green Bay Packer player Aaron Kampman, and a show package donated by NASCO. Also donated was a one-night stay at the Kalahari, passes to Mount Olympus, a pink Farmall pedal tractor by Case-IH, a stay at the “Doctor’s House” by Rick Daluge, and a pair of Milwaukee Brewer tickets.
Proceeds from the auction are put into the WHA scholarship fund, and this year nearly $2,500 was added. At convention, the WHA Scholarship committee awarded more than $10,000 to members attending college. High school seniors, short course, and two and four year college students that are members of WHA are all eligible for these awards.
Throughout the convention, youth were recognized for other outstanding achievement, including Junior Progressive Breeder recognition for owning and breeding their milking animals producing 30,000, to over 200,000 pounds of milk in one lactation or over their lifetime. Members with cows that produced over 200,000 pounds of milk in their lifetime included Brandon Long of Waupaca/Waushara County, and Krysty Kepler of Richland County.
The Wisconsin Junior Holstein Association awards interested junior members the opportunity to travel to an area of the state to tour farms and learn from their experience. This “Farm Tour Trip” award was given to twelve recipients this year, including Karsen Haag of Dane County, Rachel Hartlaub of Manitowoc County, Breinne Hendrickson of Green County, Dustin Huser of Wood County, Nathan Huser of Wood County, John Klossner of Green County, Cassy Krull of Jefferson County, Bret Long of Waupaca/Waushara County, Andrea Pagenkopf of Grant County, Katie Peper of Polk County, Nicholas Schuster of Fond du Lac County, and Kayla Solum of Barron County. The group will be traveling to the western area of the state early this spring.
Also held Sunday morning was the annual business meeting, in which four new Junior Activities Committee (JAC) members were selected. The JAC group is responsible for coordinating and seeing through all junior events within the Wisconsin Junior Holstein Association. Selected this year for the southwest district was Katie Wallenhorst of Lafayette County, for the northwest William Coyne of Pierce County, the southeast Laura Elliott of Dane County, and the northeast Jacob Brey of Door County. These members will serve a two-year term as JAC’s, and join the second-year members Danielle Brown of Iowa County, Lee Slattery of Wood County, Robert O’Leary of Rock County, and Mitch Kappelman of Manitowoc County.
The contest room is always fun and a great way to show off things done by junior members throughout the year. In the advertising contest, members submit advertisements they ran in the Wisconsin Holstein News or something they designed at home on their own. This year’s winner in the junior division was Kayli Hodorff of Fond du Lac County. In the senior division, Danae Bauer of Waupaca County, Cassy Krull of Jefferson County and Tony Weier of Iowa County were recognized. Taking people’s choice honors were Kayli Hodorff of Fond du Lac County and Cara Biely of Manitowoc County.
In the photography contest’s farm people photos, Jordan Siemers of Manitowoc County and Tori Evert of Dane County were recognized. In the senior division, Mysty Kepler of Richland County, Becky Steffensmeier of Grant County and Heather Novinskie of Grant County had photos that received top honors. People’s choice awards went to Jordan Siemers and Mysty Kepler.
In photography’s farm scenes category, Rachel Coyne of Pierce County, Charlie Hamilton of Grant County, and Clara Samuels of Door County were the top three individuals in the junior division. Excelling in the senior division were Andrea Pagenkopf of Grant County, Mysty Kepler of Richland County and Cara Biely of Manitowoc County. People’s choice honors went to Clara Samuels and Mysty Kepler.
Wrapping up the photography contest was the farm animals category, where Kayla Krueger of Waupaca County and Rachel Coyne of Pierce County took top honors. Tony Weier of Iowa County, Brandon Kruswick of Door County and Laura Byl of Polk County topped the senior division. People’s choice awards went to Elizabeth Sarbacker of Dane County and Andrea Pagenkopf of Grant County.
The juniors got creative in the arts contest, and taking top honors in the junior division were Paige Nelson of Pierce County, Isaiah Tretsuen of Polk County and Austin Nauman of Monroe County. In the senior division, Brynn Kasten of Manitowoc County, Morgan Behnke of Green County and John Klossner of Green County were the top three individuals. Nicole Wright of Jefferson County and Brynn Kasten received the people’s choice awards in this contest.
Also bringing out creativity were those in the crafts contest. Elizabeth Sarbacker of Dane County, Kayla Krueger of Waupaca County and Kari Brokish of Iowa County were the top individuals in the junior division, while Mary Johnson of Polk County, Kayla Wright of Jefferson County and Tony Weier of Iowa County were top three in the senior division. People’s choice winners were David Petersheim of Vernon County and Mary Johnson.
Each county is encouraged to submit a scrapbook of their activities throughout the year. These books are judged and awards are given to the top three counties. This year Jefferson County earned top honors, and Green and Grant Counties followed closely in second and third place. People’s Choice winner was Dane County. The digital scrapbook contest was a newly added contest for 2010, and Polk County claimed first place.
A newer contest involving folding displays was a huge success this year. Individuals developed display boards to highlight activities or things within the dairy industry. First in the junior division was Courtney Moser of Vernon County, second was Katherine Larson of Vernon County and third was Claire Olson of Door County. Courtney was also named people’s choice in this contest. First in the intermediate division was Jackie Breuch of Wood County, second was Andrea Pagenkopf of Dane County, and third was Elizabeth Sarbacker of Dane County. Andrea Pagenkopf was People’s Choice winner in the intermediate division. In the senior contest, John Klossner was first place and people’s choice.
This year’s essay contest topics included member’s writing about assigned topics relating to today’s dairy industry. The top three junior individuals for this contest were Charlie Hamilton of Grant County, Austin Nauman of Monroe County, and Elizabeth Sarbacker of Dane County. In the senior division, Rachel Hartlaub of Manitowoc County was first, Stephanie Nagel also of Manitowoc County was second, and Amber Yager of Iowa County placed third.
For teams to be seated in the dairy bowl contest, they must take a seating exam on the first day of convention. Those individuals scoring well are recognized with awards presented by Accelerated Genetics. High scores in the junior division this year went to Cody Getschel of Polk County, Jordan Siemers of Manitowoc County and Mackenzie Sarbacker of Dane County. Also recognized for high scores in the senior division were Matthew O’Leary of Fond du Lac County, Jacob Brey of Door County and Brynn Kasten of Manitowoc County.
First Place Junior Dairy Bowl Team - Colin Landis, Kaleb Storm, Thomas Larson, Zach Servais, Coach Kent Wendorf
Second Place Junior Dairy Bowl Team - Coach Patti Hurtgen, Cody Getschel, Ethan Dado, Chris Rassier, Trent Dado
Winning Senior Dairy Bowl Team - Alex Kruswick, Brandon Kruswick, Matt Olson, Jacob Brey, Coaches Clarice Brey and Richard Olson
Second Place Senior Dairy Bowl Team - Coach Patti Hurtgen, Hans Johnson, Brett Getschel, Mary Johnson, Bethany Dado
The Wisconsin Holstein Association would like to commend the District 3 Holstein Association members and chaperones, which includes the counties of Crawford, Iowa, Grant, Lafayette, and Richland, and extend a special thank you to all volunteers that helped make the weekend a success.
The association would also like to thank the following junior raffle sponsors: the Hildebrandt family, Accelerated Genetics, International Protein Sires, ABS Global, Genex/CRI Coop, East/Central Select Sires, Animart, Wisconsin Holstein News, Hoard’s Dairyman, Cattle Connection, Holstein World, Bovine Boutique, Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, Badger Dairy Club, UW-River Falls Dairy Club, and Priority IAC. Also, thank you to all juniors who sold tickets and help make this year’s WHA junior fundraiser a success!
For more results from this year’s convention, check out the Junior Convention Report link on our website: www.wisholsteins.com.
The Wisconsin Junior Holstein Association is a nonprofit organization that strives to increase knowledge and provide opportunities to youth by involvement through the Registered Holstein Project. The Association strives to positively influence young people by recognizing and congratulating their achievements and accomplishments in the industry.
For more information on Wisconsin Junior Holstein and membership, visit the website or call the WHA office at 1-800-223-4269.