FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE: December 15, 2006

PDMP Awards Two $1000 Scholarships

The Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania (PDMP) has awarded $1000 scholarships to each of the two Penn State students who participated in the dairy group’s intern program during the summer of 2006. President Logan Bower announced that the grants would be made to Jason Pontillo, who completed an internship at Walmoore Farms, Inc. in Chatham, PA, and to Nathan Heim, whose internship was at Ar-Joy Farms in Cochranville, PA.

This was the sixth year PDMP has offered internships, which are open to students attending any of the surrounding colleges, including Delaware Valley, Virginia Tech, and Penn State. Bower says that “the program is set up to provide students with an opportunity to work and learn in a setting that will not only further their education in college, but help them to fine tune their long term goals.” In addition to providing eligibility for scholarships, internships have included an option to attend a national Dairy Internship Conference held in Wisconsin each August where students can make contacts and develop relationships from across the country. “These relationships can be invaluable in future years,” according to Bower.

Nathan is in his second year at Penn State with a double major in Animal Science, business option, and Business, accounting option. His long term goals are to operate a dairy business and to breed an All-American Cow. Dairy owners Duane and Marilyn Hershey had Nathan focus on their marketing opportunities. “Marketing is an area on a large dairy that can sometimes slip away from the business,” the couple says. Nathan helped to put protocols in place making it easier to develop and maintain their marketing strategies. He also got experience in overall management during days that the Hersheys were not available.

With a major in Dairy Business at Penn State University, Jason’s goal after graduating next year is not to manage a dairy farm, but to help farmers in the financial field of ag business. His mentor, Walt Moore, said he was thankful to have Jason’s “youth and enthusiasm” added to the farm this summer. Moore sees the internship as a “critical step for students pursuing Ag careers and a win-win situation between the universities and producers.” Recognizing Jason’s interest in the financial details of the operation, Walt was quick to allow the intern some time to work alongside their bookkeeper, as well as experiencing the day-to-day dairy activities. When Moore served on the PDMP board, he was instrumental in getting the internship program started as part of the organization’s goal to interest youth in the dairy business and in support of the industry’s responsibility to educate the dairy leaders of tomorrow.

PDMP is an organization of progressive, positive-minded dairy producers and agribusiness leaders. Its mission is to advance the dairy industry in Pennsylvania through improved productivity and profitability. For more information on PDMP, visit their website at www.pdmp.org or email info@pdmp.org.