42 —Lancaster Farming, Saturday, July 8,1978 Pouring a glass of milk this Dairy Princess who is Teaching nutrition to children Is goal of Beverly Hershey - By SUSAN KAUFFMAN Staff Writer COCHRANVILLE - Chester County’s dairy princess Beverly Ann Hershey is concerned with teaching and promoting good nutrition and eating habits to young children. She says, “If they start to like milk when they are young, they will s probably drink it the rest of their lives.” \ Bev Hershey has zeroed in on the younger segment of the population in her dairy promotional work as a natural outgrowth of her involvement in her college studies. She will be returning in the Fall to Messiah College to continue as a sophomore with a Home Economics major and an early childhood education minor. This dairy princess’s knowledge of dairy products, nutrition, and eating habits of ■ the American family is not limited to her own background on her parents’ farm or information gathered from textbooks, however. This Summer she has been seeing first-hand the tastes of people of all ages who stop to dine at Historic Strasburg Restaurant. Bev works fulltime at this establishment for the Summer, and has noticed a few traits in the American public’s eating habits already. “The menus for the children's platters all include milk as the beverage. The majority of the children ask if they can substitute sodas. Many times their parents £ allow them to do that. Some parents, not \ many, will insist that they dnnk their milk or at least ask them if they have had any milk yet that day,” Bev explained. “Very few adults order milk. I think most adults don’t think milk is important for them, too,” she added. Bev proposes that the children, and parents as well, have had good teaching somewhere along the way about good nutrition but prefer the taste of less nutritional “junk foods.” to go with some freshly baked cookies is a an enthusiastic promoter of refreshing milk As a 4-H leader for the past two years for the Glen-Hi 4-H club, she recalls that when the younger members were asked in roll call to name the food group a food product belonged to, all were able to do so with ease. Getting children as well as adults to eat what they know is good for them is not as easy as teaching the basic information, Bev concluded. Although Bev admits that there are a lot more commercials for dairy products presently being viewed on television than in the past, the majority of the T.V. commercials geared especially to the younger child are not nutritionally wise choices. “I don’t know how much the milk producer can stand to take out of his milk check for advertisement, but I feel that is | is a necessary thing to do,” he says. “To compete with soft drinks and other products, the dairy fanner must advertise his product which is superior in food value. _ Maybe powdered drinks are cheaper by the quart but what nutntion do you get from Kool-Aid? ” she quened. In addition to seeing more dairy product mass-media advertising recently, Bev also sees an improvement or increased con sumer interest in nutrition and natural foods. “This is where milk has a lot going for it. It is an advantage for milk, here, because it is a natural product,” she pointed out. “To make milk a more appealing drink, the addition of flavorings such as chocolate and the powdered drink used for the Magic Cows is one answer,” she added When consumers complain that milk is fattening or that it causes allergic reac tions in some people or that it is detrimental in some form to some people, Bev answers these criticisms with the statement, “There are so many kinds of milk products available to suit your taste. Dairy princess title is dream come true for Carol Zepp NEW OXFORD - For Carol Zepp becoming Adams County’s dairy princess is really a dream come true. She says, “As a little girl I always looked up to the dairy princess and thought it would he fun to be one.” Now that she is an official am bassador of the dairy industry, Carol is enthusiastic about promoting milk. The daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Norman Zepp, New Oxford R 2, Carol will be a sophomore at the Mont Alto campus of The Pennsylvania State University where she is majoring in journalism. ' Carol, 18, was crowned by Lita McGough, the 1977 dairy princess. Alternate was Judy Smith, daughter of Mr. and Mrs. Luther Smith, Gettysburg R 9. Already busy promoting dairy products, Carol has made four radio spots which were used during “June is Dairy Month” promotions, and she said she is looking forward to writing articles for newspapers and doing store promotions for milk and cheese. One of her first jobs is to organize a skit for the state dairy princess seminar later this month, and she hopes that it will be useful to her throughout the year in presenting her message to organizations. Speaking befoie the public is not new or frightening to the recently selected dairy princess. A veteran of eight years of 4-H, she credits her 4-H experiences with helping her gam the confidence to be able to win the dairy princess title. “I have given speeches in 4-H, so I was delight for ||“S' Beverly Hershey shows a flannelboard illustration which she made for us< the Chester County dairy princess contest. Her promotion presentation geared to smaller children and dealt with the story of creation and the cow. The milk products, whether skim milk, yogurt, frozen yogurt or sweet acidophilus milk, to mention a few, are such a good nutritional value compared to other non dairy choices.” “Adults are probably the hardest to get to dnnk milk,” Bev suggested. “They think milk is only for children.” “Teenagers should drink milk because it promotes healthy skin and shiny hair. Teenagers are very concious of the way they look but are probably the worst eaters, nutrition wise,” she feels. Although she sees a lot of work to be done with individuals in older age brackets, Bev sees more opportunities for her to promote milk to younger children. By SALLY BAIR Staff Writer %& •r' ~ii4- i *, Homestead Notes able to collect my thoughts on stage,” she says. This Spring she was keynote speaker for 4-H Capitol Days, where she addressed a breakfast meeting of legislators and 4- , H’ers on the topic “What 4-H Means to Me.”. She has given the speech to other groups as well. The stage appearance during the contest was no problem for Carol. “I wasn’t nervous because I knew almost the who'p audience. They were all farmers I knew.’ Two years ago she bad entered the contest, but recalled, “Then there were just faces in the crowd. I was sort of young then, but it was good practiceforme.” In her interview on stage she recalled being questioned about the future of the family farm. She said she sees it as “un certain, with so many city people moving to the country. I think we must preserve farmland as much as possible.” Carol is very familiar with the milking operation in her father’s herd of 00 Holsteins. She said she can do everything from assembling the milke-- to milking the cows and cleaning the equipment. This dairy princess is very enthusiastic about living in the country. “I wouldn’t trade the peaceful atmosphere and the clean air for anything. It is the best place in the world to grow up. There is hard work, but it is rewarding,” she says. She added that many of her school friends do not live in the country, and she tells them the virtures of farm life. (Turn to Page 46) For her three minute promotional pai the Chester County dairy princess cor this Spring, Bev worked up a flannel! presentation tracing the Creation, ant particular creation of the cow for and Eve’s benefit. As the presem progressed, Bev included the nutriti value of milk for the various ages infant to grandparent. “I am not sure what my presem will be for the state contest, but I am that it will deal with some sort of v ; display for children,” Bev exp) “Children are very unpressionab) need something visual they can ■ ber,” she added. (Turn to Page 46)
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