Three local teens are among the five young county women seeking to represent the dairy industry by competing for the title of Snohomish County Dairy Ambassador.
Alycia Schoenbachler, the current Ambassador (formerly called the dairy princess) will crown the newly chosen Ambassador at the coronation banquet Saturday, April 21, at Viking Hall, 1331 Pioneer Highway in Silvana. Doors open at 6 p.m.
This years candidates are Hannah Donaldson, Tanya Moman, Emily Neff, Adrienne Schoenbachler and Liz Soler.
Hannah Donaldson is the daughter of Charles and Betty Donaldson and is a junior at Sultan High School. Her involvement with the dairy industry came as a result of an agreement with a dairyman. He would let her raise a dairy calf to show as a project for showing at fairs if she would care for the animal, return it and he would pay her a certain amount for weight gain. This program worked well for Hannah and the dairyman and resulted in her showing calves and cows for several years. She earned many awards at local fairs and earned qualifications to compete at the Puyallup Fair where she earned top awards with her Jersey heifer.
She began working for a local dairy farm cleaning stalls and working up to other jobs including medical attention for cows and heifers. She learned some life lessons in her work on the dairy farm.
Hannah had a 4-H rabbit project which helped her learn about showing and caring for animals. She has been involved in leadership roles in 4-H and Future Farmers of America and won awards in dairy and livestock judging and horticulture displays at the Evergreen State Fair.
She enjoys music and sings with local choirs. She plays the violin and sings in her church choir.
Her goal is to attend Washington State University to study animal nutrition or music appreciation and work and live at the campus dairy farm during her college years.
Tanya Moman is the daughter of Tim and Lois Geist of rural Arlington and is a junior at Arlington High School.
Tanya was exposed to dairy farming early when her mom was a herd manager for a 150-Holstein cow herd. They moved off the farm to a 10-acre hobby farm. She began her dairy showing as a tiny tot in 4-H competition and has been involved in 4-H and FFA for 11 years showing Jersey and Guernsey breeds. He awards include overall Champion at the Evergreen State Fair and participation in the Round Robin competition. Tanya also completed an FFA project raising a pig and showing it at the Puget Sound Junior Livestock Show in Marysville.
Tanyas hobbies include horticulture and landscape design. After graduation from high school she hopes to attend Washington State University and major in an animal science field.
Emily Neff is the daughter of Jacob and Carrie Neff and is a senior at Marysville-Pilchuck High School. She lives on the family dairy farm near Marysville. She has lived on the farm her whole life where the family milks 200 Holstein cows and raises 200 replacement heifers. Emilys main job on the farm is raising the calves which she has done for several years. The family works together to get the work done. Emily works wherever needed, including pitching out stalls, harvesting crops and occasionally delivering a calf.
She has been an active member in her 4-H club for five years, and has served in a leadership capacity and given many dairy and food demonstrations at fairs. She has been a member of the German Club, Treble Choir for 10 years and has held various offices, and she has done community service with her church youth group for six years. She enjoys skiing, playing soccer, horseback riding, singing, spending time with family and friends and other activities.
Emily plans to attend Washington State University and graduate with a four-year degree in photography or business administration.
Adrienne Schoenbachler is the daughter of Fred and Tammi Schoenbachler and has lived on her familys farm her entire life. She is a junior and home schooled through Seton home Study Group. It offers a college preparatory curriculum and Adrienne currently holds a 4.0 grade point average.
The family farm consists of 140 cows, mostly registered Holsteins. Adrienne does a variety of chores each day such as feeding, clean up and other chores as needed. In the summer she herds cows from pasture to be milked, mows grass to feed and making hay and stacking it in the barn. She has trained and clipped young calves consigned to registered Holstein sales.
Adrienne has been involved with 4-H dairy projects and shown in various fairs and earned many honors. She captured Grand Champion Fitting and Showing honors at the Evergreen State Fair in 2006. She has participated in 4-H dairy judging, dairy quiz bowl and has served in 4-H leadership roles and has completed 18 dairy projects. Adrienne is a member of the Junior Holstein Association and went to their convention as a Dairy Quiz Bowl member in Maine and South Dakota in 2005 and 2006 and has competed in open class competitions at various fairs.
Adrienne is active in her church youth group including fundraising for a trip to Australia for World Youth Day in 2008. She is interested in drama and enjoys writing fiction and, for her own amusement, poetry. She plans to attend Franciscan University of Steubenville in Ohio, planning to major in communication arts with a radio/television concentration. She hopes to minor in either drama or theology.
Liz Soler is the daughter of Fred and Bev Soler and is a junior at Arlington High School who has been involved with the dairy industry her entire life. The family dairy farm is located at Oso and they milk about 130 Holstein cows. They also have about 100 heifers at a heifer-raising facility. Liz works on the farm milking cows, feeding calves and whatever else needs doing.
Liz has shown dairy cows in 4-H and FFA projects at competitions around the Pacific Northwest since she was 9-years-old. She competed in numerous dairy judging and dairy bowl contests. She competed nationally in 4-H dairy quiz bowl. She has held offices in FFA and is the current president of the Arlington High School chapter and has competed at the state level in numerous events. Liz has been a member of the Washington State Junior Holstein Association for the past four years, a board member and current president, and competed at the national convention for the last four years.
Liz plans to attend California Polytechnic University and study dairy science and earn a degree in that field. She enjoys travel and someday hopes to be a world traveler.
The public is invited to attend the banquet; reservations must be made by April 16. Tickets for the event are $20. For more information or to order tickets, call Bev Soler at 360-435-4557.