Alice in Dairyland comes to Pine Crest
By Jared Schmeltzer
Reporter
With June being Dairy Month, Wisconsin is celebrating all across the state. It also marks a very busy time of year for Alice in Dairyland, who made a trip to Pine Crest Nursing Home on Monday May 19, to give a presentation about agriculture in Wisconsin. Newly-crowned “Alice,” Crystal Siemers-Peterman posed some trivia questions to the audience, testing their Wisconsin dairy knowledge and gave away prizes to anyone who could answer a question correctly. She also took some time before and after her presentation to interact with the residents at Pine Crest, getting to know them and listening to the stories they had about experiences they had in the dairy and farming industry. Originally from Cleveland, Wis., Siemers-Peterman was recently chosen as Wisconsin’s 70th Alice in Dairyland. Siemers-Peterman grew up on a dairy farm in Manitowoc County and was actively involved in youth dairy activities. She recently graduated from the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities with a major in agriculture and food business management.
Starting work as Alice on June 5, over the next year Siemers-Peterman will travel about 40,000 miles speaking at events and giving media interviews. She will present lessons in more than 100 Wisconsin classrooms in partnership with the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
As Alice, she works as a communications professional for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). Her main focus is to educate the public about the importance of agriculture in Wisconsin.