"Something unpredictable"

The Ohio State University Graduation was held on June 12th. The Class of 2011 consisted of 9,700 students.  One of them, from the College of Food, Agriculture and Natural Resources, graduated Summa Cum Laude and is a Frederick County native and member of the Maryland Brown Swiss Association.

Hannah Thompson, 21, of Walkersville MD joined the Brown Swiss Association when she became a 4-H member and acquired her first calf.   Hannah was not raised on a dairy farm, but Glad-Ray Farm is her second home. Sharon Lease Keilholtz and Hannah's mother were friends since childhood and attended school and 4-H together, followed by nursing school.  They met Jim during county 4-H basketball and after finishing school Sharon and Jim married and began farming with Jim's parents in Emmitsburg MD.  They later purchased the home farm as well as an adjoining one.  Sharon showed Brown Swiss in 4-H and when their daughter, Jennifer, joined 4-H she also showed Swiss. As a 4-H member and Brown Swiss Junior Jen was very successful, both in breed classes and showmanship.  Jennifer was in college when Hannah was born and became her role model.  Hannah also learned to love dairy cattle, even better than the pony her mother "thought" was going to be her 4-H project. 

When Hannah reached 4-H age she was given a March calf by her parents.  The calf was a Glad-Ray homebred, the only Swiss heifer calf born in March that year at the farm, and named Glad-Ray Hannah's Joy. The calf was taken to Walkersville for 4 months until weaned, then returned to the farm.  While in town, she became completely spoiled and actually preferred to drink chlorinated water.  When show season began Joy set the standard for Hannah.  Joy was named Junior Champion at practically every show as a March calf.  She continued her success as a yearling and won the Spring Yearling class of the 2000 All-American show.  Joy, being a Swiss, was stubborn when she wanted to be.  However, she finally decided the show ring wasn't too bad a place to be.  After countless hours of practice under Jennifer's scrutiny Joy and Hannah evolved into a winning showmanship team.  Hannah continued to exhibit Swiss during her 4-H career and later added Holsteins. She was active in the Brown Swiss Juniors and served as MD Brown Swiss Princess and Swiss Miss.

The dairy cattle 4-H project branched out into public speaking, dairy promotion and dairy judging.  Hannah won local championships at 4-H Presents and County/State Championships in FFA for extemporaneous and prepared public speaking.  Her FFA Communications Team was won the state competition using the topic of Land Use Models.  She won the Intermediate Championship in public speaking at the 2005 Holstein National Convention.  Meanwhile, from spring to fall each year dairy judging was her passion.  She spent many evenings and days at practice and enjoyed every minute.  Each year she worked harder to achieve a higher spot on the team, as well as improve her individual performance.  She made the state team that competed at Louisville in 2006, along with Hannah Smith, another MD Swiss member.  In 2007 at age 16 she was the youngest member of the state team that competed at World Dairy Expo in Madison WI.  For the first time all 4 members were from the same MD county (Frederick) and 3 of the team, Hannah, Curtis Rhoderick and Jarrett Remsberg owned and exhibited Brown Swiss.  The coach, Dr. Lee Majeski was also a MD Swiss member. The team placed first, becoming the National 4-H Dairy Judging Champions and were invited to Europe.  They also spent extra time in Switzerland, visiting farms and cattle in the Alpine meadows--the highlight of the trip according to Hannah.

Hannah says she can't imagine not having a career in agriculture.  She was recruited for collegiate judging teams and had a choice of colleges but Ohio State won, hands down.  She completed her undergraduate degree in 3 years, obtaining a BS in Agricultural Communications and minoring in ag economics and Spanish.  She was inducted into Alpha Zeta Partners, the agricultural honor society, and spent a term at the University of Sao Paulo in Piracicaba, Brazil.  She interned at an ag radio station, Select Sires and this summer is in Wisconsin, interning at Charleston/Orwig, an advertisement agency focusing on agricultural products.  After accepting the internship and not thinking she knew a soul there she learned that Casey Hushon, wife of Josh Hushon of Brother's Three Swiss,  works there!  While in WI Hannah is living at Crescentmead Farm, working with cattle in her time off from the agency.  This fall she returns to Columbus to work towards her master's degree after being appointed to The Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center Director's Associateship.   She says her goal is to find a position in agricultural advocacy  that pays enough to afford a show string on the side.  She was an active member of the Buckeye Dairy Club, chairing the Milking Parlor at the State Fair and serving as co-chair of the Buckeye Classic of 2011.   As vice-president of  The OSU chapter of the Agricultural Communicators of Tomorrow she served as an organizer for the 2011 National ACT Professional Development Conference.