In The Home Stretch!

So I am in my last few days as the "reigning" Senior Michigan Dairy Ambassador. I am trying to finish up some projects and get things squared away for the conference, all while carrying the load of my busy classes. I think that I am beginning to know what it is like to be an adult, or as my mom likes to say, "Welcome to adulthood."

Anyway, I figured that I should finally finish up writing about some of the activities I did over the fall/winter.

"Autumnfest"

Waaaayyyy back in November, the Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference along with the Michigan Dairy Ambassadors sponsored a booth at the largest tailgate of the year - Autumnfest. Brittany Westendorp, Sara Long, Krista Beeker and myself (along with the help of my mom - Doreen and little sister - Kylie) had a booth featuring Earlene the cow and "Count Chocula". Earlene is a wooden life-like cow that offers a hands-on experience of milking a cow, but without the worry of being kicked. The idea behind "Count Chocula" was to promote chocolate milk and remind people of the healthy benefits of drinking it. Also, we wanted to remind people to be eating and or drinking at least 3-a-day of dairy.

We had a lot of positive feedback about the booth. I heard people saying that it was educational and fun. Everyone really like the chocolate milk as well. The chocolate milk came from our very own Brittany Westendorp's family farm and creamery - Moo-ville Creamery in Nashville, Michigan. We had such a great response that we were awarded the first-ever "People's Choice Award".


Chocolate Milk - Beverage of Champions

• "Chocolate milk contains both carbohydrates and protein that are important for an athlete's health; carbohydrates in milk fuels muscles after exercise, and protein helps maintain healthy muscles. From bone building to muscle strengthening, the nutrients in chocolate milk provide a variety of positive health benefits."

• "Chocolate milk provides important nutrients in a convenient great-tasting, relatively inexpenive package. According to the 2005 Dietary Guidelines and MyPyramid recommendations, Americans of all activity levels should include 3 servings of low-fat or fat-free milk or milk products in their diet every day. Chocolate milk provides another option for meeting these recommendations."

U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture. Dietary Guidelines for Americans, 2005. 6th Edition, Washington, DC: U.S. Government Printing Office, January 2005.

• "The preliminary research on chocolate milk as a recovery beverage is promising. However, additional research needs to be done to help further support chocolate milk specifically as a post-exercise recovery beverage."