By Tom Ganser
The fourth Thursday in May, a nearly perfect spring day in the area, was made even more memorable for a local company and some local students thanks to a visit by Kristin Olson, the 66th Alice in Dairyland and Wisconsin’s most famous agriculture ambassador.
Olson’s day included an early morning interview on WSLD 104.5 FM, a tour of Cold Spring Egg Farm in Palmyra, and meeting events with students at Washington Elementary School, Whitewater Middle School and Whitewater High School.
A native of Fond du Lac, Olson grew up showing dairy cattle with her family’s small show herd, Crestbrooke Holsteins and Jerseys.
In 2010, she graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a life sciences communications degree.
Prior to being selected as the 66th Alice in Dairyland, Olson worked as the dairy advertising coordinator at Accelerated Genetics.
Alice in Dairyland is a one-year, full-time public relations professional employed by the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade, and Consumer Protection. Each year, Alice in Dairyland travels more than 40,000 miles throughout the state, promoting Wisconsin agriculture to various audiences.
This was the eighth annual visit of the current Alice in Dairyland to Walworth County arranged by Katy Katzman, the current chair for the Walworth County Dairy Promotion Committee.
“Kristin was my intern in the summer of 2008 for the Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Promotion Board but I also watched her grow up showing cattle at the Wisconsin State Fair,” Katzman said.
Following the radio interview, Olson joined Katzman for a tour of several facilities at the Cold Spring Egg Farm, led by Production Manager John Black.
Cold Spring Egg Farm is a third-generation family-owned and operated egg farm that produces up to 2 million farm fresh eggs each day. Black said that the farm employs about 140 to 150 workers.
The next stop for Alice in Dairyland was Washington Elementary School in Whitewater where she met with two groups of 4th/5th grade students taught by Jill Burki, Tim Nelson, Mike Meinel and Carol Weisbrod .
Olson shared an interactive presentation called “Taste Wisconsin” developed by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and the state Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. The presentation complements the basic Wisconsin curriculum by expanding students’ knowledge about the agriculture industry in Wisconsin and nutrition.
Nelson said the visit by Alice was “quite informative. The kids (and teachers) learned some facts that were quite surprising. Farming is still a huge part of the Wisconsin landscape and something that kids need to understand.”
“I thought that Ms. Olson did a tremendous job presenting the information in a fun and informative way,” Nelson added.
Students at Whitewater Middle School were treated to a special dessert of a tasty Wisconsin dairy product, frozen yogurt topped with a choice of three Wisconsin fruit sauces and served in honor of Alice in Dairyland’s visit to the school. Lucky students who had a sticker on the bottom of their bowl also selected a prize.
A special moment for Olson was meeting Caroline Crowley, a 6th grade student whose mother, Holly (Meudt) Crowley, served as Alice in Dairyland in 1996 and promoted Wisconsin cheese during the 1997 Super Bowl in New Orleans – won by the Green Bay Packers.
Olson ended her visit with a stop at Whitewater High School where she met with two groups of students enrolled in Family and Consumer Science or Agriscience courses taught by Lynn Weilbrenner and Paul Majors.
The presentation by Olson, “Rethink Your Drink,” aimed at enhancing student awareness of beverage choices and nutritional factors to consider before making a beverage selection. Particularly important in the presentation was information about the total sugar content from natural and added sources present in many popular carbonated beverages.
“Alice explained the nutritive value of various drink choices. She had one volunteer student scoop sugar to show how many teaspoons of sugar were in each of the drinks. For example, a 20-ounce coke has over 16 teaspoons of added sugar. By comparison chocolate milk would have 3 teaspoons of added sugar in a 16-ounce container,” Majors said.
“Students were surprised to watch their classmate scoop so many teaspoons of sugar,” he added.
