Hannah Diehl, McVeytown, Pa., Elizabeth Gross, New Ringgold, Pa., and Meghan Hettinga, Orange City, Iowa, have been selected as the 2020-2021 recipients of the Fred Stout Experience Awards.
The fund supporting these awards was created in 2000 in memory of Fred J. Stout Sr., Mt. Carmel, Ill., a lifelong Jersey breeder and member of the Jersey Marketing Service (JMS) staff from 1978 to 1997. Stout was instrumental in the growth of JMS marketing activities, and later added duties as a type evaluator and in customer field service for the American Jersey Cattle Association.
Stout believed that the best learning experiences happen in the everyday world. These awards honor that conviction by providing financial support for two paid internships each year, one on-farm and the other with JMS.
JMS Internship Recipients: Hannah Diehl and Elizabeth Gross
Two Pennsylvania Jersey youth have been selected to work with JMS during 2021.
Hannah Diehl began her internship with JMS on May 23. She will assist with the preparation, staging and wrap-up work for the company’s public auctions, online and private treaty sales including the 64th National Heifer Sale, June 25 in Donahue, Iowa.
Hannah was selected as the 2020 Fred Stout recipient, but due to COVID-19 the internship was postponed until 2021.
She is a student at Penn State University and will graduate in 2022 with a bachelor’s degree in animal science with a business option. At Penn State, Hannah is active with the Penn State Dairy Science Club where she served as the Dairy Expo Show Manager in 2020. She is also a member of the dairy judging team.
When not in school, Hannah is an integral part of her family’s farm—Musser Run Jerseys. She helps with record keeping and registering the newborn calves. In addition, she monitors breeding records and offers suggestions on matings and assists with milking the 170 Registered Jerseys when able.
Hannah was a member of Class VI of Jersey Youth Academy. She placed seventh in the 2018 National Jersey Youth Achievement Contest and received the Anne E. Perchard Challenge Award the same year. She served the Pennsylvania Jersey Cattle Association as their state Queen in 2019.
The second JMS Fred Stout Experience winner is Elizabeth Gross.
She is a May 2021 graduate of Penn State University with a bachelor’s degree in animal science with a business option. At Penn State, Elizabeth was a member of the Penn State Dairy Judging Team. She placed 13th overall and 3rd in individual reasons at the 2020 online intercollegiate judging contest. She served as treasurer of the Penn State Dairy Science Club and was a member of the Nittany Lion Fall Classic Sale committee. She also volunteered with the All-American Dairy Show assisting with check in and clerking.
Elizabeth is the owner of EVEL Jerseys. The herd of seven cows has an average appraisal score of 86%. In addition to working with her own herd, she interned with Billings Farm and Museum in 2019. While there she learned skills from shadowing the manager and assistant manager and learning their decision-making process. She assisted with rotation, care and feeding of the milking herd and heifer groups, monitored herd health and worked with the nursery heifers.
Elizabeth will begin her internship experience with JMS for the fall sale season.
Farm Experience Internship Recipient: Meghan Hettinga
Meghan Hettinga’s internship supported by the Fred Stout Experience Fund will be at Cinnamon Ridge Dairy, Donahue, Iowa, with a focus on on-farm processing and interacting with consumers.
Meghan is a senior at South Dakota State University (SDSU) majoring in dairy production. She has a minor in communication studies and agribusiness marketing.
At SDSU, she is a member of the track team and the dairy club. She currently serves as historian of the Dairy Club and serves on the Executive Team. She manages the groups social media accounts and has designed and managed the sale of club apparel. On campus she is also a student ambassador for the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences.
Meghan is currently serving as the Iowa Dairy Princess, a goodwill ambassador for the Iowa dairy farmers.
She was a member of Class VI of Jersey Youth Academy and received the Paul Jackson Memorial Scholarship from the AJCA in 2020. She was a finalist in the National Jersey Queen contest and received the Iowa Jersey Cattle Club Youth Achievement award.
Growing up on her family’s 150 head Registered Jersey farm has fueled Meghan’s passion for the dairy industry. In 2020, she was the Dairy Production Intern for Riverview LLP. This position gave Meghan an experience of working with a large commercial dairy. During school she works as a research animal technician where she works with a variety of animal species involved in studies.
Meghan’s experience at Cinnamon Ridge Dairy will run from May 24 to August 6.
About Jersey Youth Programs
Previous recipients of the Fred Stout Experience Award are Tara Bohnert, Illinois (2003), Allison Waggoner, South Carolina (2004), Dan Bauer, Wisconsin (2005), Aaron Horst, Pennsylvania (2006), Jacob Pieper, Maryland (2007); Katie Albaugh, Maryland (2008); Brady Core, Kentucky (2009); Ivy Roberts, Florida, and Kim Wilson, Missouri (2010); Amy Maxwell, Iowa, and Joseph Fjarlie, Wisconsin (2011); Robert McGarry, Vermont, and Lyman Rudgers, New York (2012); Meagan Bolen, Ohio, and Wyatt Smith, Minnesota (2013); Meagan Chittenden, New York, and Olivia Pearson, North Carolina (2014); Gerret Boer, Texas, and Tyler Stiles French, South Carolina (2015); and Laura Bell, Tennessee, and Austin Woods, Wisconsin (2016); Tyler Kirchdoerfer, Missouri and Blake Koehn, Oklahoma (2017); Amanda LoRusso, Connecticut (2018); Brennan Topp, Ohio; and Abigail Grimm, Minnesota (2019).
The Fred Stout Experience Fund is among 14 educational awards for Jersey youth managed by the American Jersey Cattle Association, Reynoldsburg, Ohio. Contributions to these funds are recognized by the Internal Revenue Service as 501(c)(3) tax deductible charitable gifts and may be made at any time during the year. Applications for 2019-20 academic scholarships will be available May 1 on the USJersey website and are due July 1, 2021. Applications for the 2022 Stout Experience Awards are accepted through December 1, 2021. For more information, visit USJersey.com, or contact the AJCA Communications Department at (614) 861-3636 or email [email protected].