Penn State DAS Team Wins at North American Dairy Challenge
Posted: Apr 09, 2009
Team members capture a second place platinum award at the contest which included students from 31 universities.
Penn State Dairy Challenge team. Seated: Amanda Koons, left, and Jennifer Rassler. Standing, from left: Dr. Chad Dechow, Michael Phelps, David Wilson and Dr. Lisa Holden.
Penn State's Dairy Challenge team won a second place platinum award at the 2009 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC) in Syracuse this past weekend. Hosted by the Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge Committee, 124 students from 31 universities participated in this year's contest.
Members of the winning team from Penn State's Department of Dairy and Animal Science (DAS) include Amanda Koons, Waynesboro; Michael Phelps, Caledonia, NY; Jennifer Rassler, Kempton; and David Wilson, Port Royal, coached by Dr. Lisa Holden and Dr. Chad Dechow. Team members each received a $100 scholarship.
Dr. Terry Etherton, Head of the Department of Dairy and Animal Science, said, "I congratulate members of the Dairy Challenge team for this national recognition. Dairy Challenge is significant in helping our students put to use all the knowledge they have gained in a very specific way, helping them evaluate and analyze businesses and make concrete recommendations. The contest offers an exceptional learning opportunity, and I congratulate both the coaches and the students on this success."
Dairy Challenge involves four-person teams and allows top collegiate students in dairy programs from North America to compete in a management analysis and recommendation program. Students gain several experiences through this event, including visiting a modern dairy and evaluating the business through observation and interviews with the herd owner and/or manager. They work as a team to analyze the farm-specific data and develop management recommendations for the dairy which they present to the herd owners and a panel of five dairy industry judges.
Host dairies for the Challenge were Elmer Richards and Sons, LLC, and Twin Birch Dairy LLC, Skaneateles, NY; and Venture Farms, LLC, and Currie Valley Farms, Tully, NY.
Students have time during the event to visit with NAIDC sponsors for educational and recruitment opportunities. Sponsors include companies, organizations and dairy producers who are committed to cultivating tomorrow's dairy leaders. Their support encourages enhanced training and motivation of dairy students to be better prepared for the dairy industry's future, while allowing dairy science and business management academic programs to measure themselves against North America's best. Sponsors take an active role in the contest where they get to see some of North America's brightest students, giving them an exciting recruitment opportunity.
The mission of the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge is to facilitate education, communication and an exchange of ideas among students, agribusiness, dairy producers and universities that enhances the development of the dairy industry and its leaders.
Supported financially through generous donations by industry and coordinated by a volunteer board of directors, the first NAIDC was held in April 2002. For more information about NAIDC or to become a sponsor of the program, log on to www.dairychallenge.org.