Celebrate Wisconsin ag as a ‘Bring’em. Show’em.’ ambassador during Wisconsin Farm Technology Days

While the school year is ending, Dustin Winkleman, a student teacher at Whitewater High School has some last-minute homework for students. He leads the team for the Future Generations Area of the Wisconsin Farm Technology Days show July 23 – 25 in Jefferson County.

“I am pursuing a career in Agriculture Education because I want to help youth to develop a passion for agriculture and see the different opportunities agriculture has to offer just like I did through my time in high school and involvement in FFA,” said Winkleman.

“Ag Career Day is a great opportunity for students to see the different careers in agriculture and network with real business leaders to help build connections that they may be able to use in the future when they are searching for a career,” he added.

In addition to many hands-on activities, Dustin wanted to create an event that would help share the career opportunity story of Wisconsin agriculture. Therefore, he enthusiastically supported doing a “Career Scavenger Hunt” for students...and thus named the first day of the show as “Ag Career Day”.

So, while most students are closing out the year and are ready to enjoy summer, Dustin and his committee announced their final push to encourage students to sign up for Ag Career Day.

At the Wisconsin State FFA convention this week, he will be asking students and advisors to become an ambassador of Wisconsin agriculture. By asking students to bring a best friend or buddy to Ag Career Day, they hope to expose those not in agriculture to see the range of career possibilities agriculture has to offer.

With a theme of “Bring’em. Show’em...there’s more to ag than just:” Dustin will be promoting the first-ever Ag Career Day with the first-ever interactive Career Scavenger Hunt.

Dustin says sign up for Ag Career Day will remain open until at least June 30 so there’s time to talk to friends to get a group together to show’em what Wisconsin agriculture is all about.

Ag Career Day starts in the early morning of Tuesday, July 23 where students in 10 – 15 different cities will get aboard Cheesehead Express buses to arrive around 9 a.m. to begin their fun scavenger hunt. Before the trip students will be given a free t-shirt, drawstring backpack, sunglasses, a coupon for a scoop of Culver’s custard. On the bus ride down, complete with drivers wearing foam cheeseheads, the bus will play Cash Cab as they get closer to the show to get their mind loosened up.

The students will have to think creatively, as they will be given a Career Scavenger Hunt clue sheet that will help them find the 14 different stops. A few of the clues will be spellbinding. Therefore, Dustin says there will be three X-tra clue stations that will likely give students the answers they need to keep finding stops.

And, it wouldn’t be a Wisconsin agriculture event without a cow ear tag. To record students’ progress in the scavenger hunt, they will be wearing a lanyard with a cow ear tag with an RFID button. Upon finding a scavenger hunt stop, students will need to interact with a “Career Takeaway” – a question or a discovery. Upon completing their interaction, a volunteer with a cow monitoring wand will scan each students RFID button. A beep by the wand will indicate they can move on to the next stop.

To sign up for Ag Career Day, visit WiFarmTechnologyDays.com/Jefferson. Scroll down to the person holding the green cow monitoring wand and click on Ag Career Day. There is a Google survey to complete or students can scan the QR code in the graphic.

Questions about Ag Career Day and logistics can be directed to (pioneer) Pete at peter.curran@plantpioneer.com.

WFTD-Jefferson County takes place July 23-25 and will be hosted at the Walters Grain Farm located in Johnson Creek, Wisconsin.