82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 4, 2000
Pennsylvania Alternate Dairy Princess
Values Growing Up On Farm
JAYNE SEBRIGHT
Lancaster Farming Staff
WATTSBURG (Erie Co.)
Although 18-year-old Amanda
Gilkinson may not always like
cutting after-school fun short to
do evening chores, she believes
that the experiences she has had
on her parent’s dairy farm more
than make up for the things she
missed because of the farm.
“Growing up on a farm has
taught me not to take things for
granted,” said Amanda. “It’s
taught me a different set of
values than most people my age
have. It has also opened so many
opportunities to me.”
One of the opportunities
living on a dairy farm opened up
to Amanda was the chance to
Amanda and her dad Ralph traveled down to State
College last week for the Pennsylvania DHIA annual
banquet. Ralph serves as a member of the Pennsylvania
DHIA Board of Directors, while Amanda represented
state dairy royalty at the banquet.
Amanda has four 4-H projects that she shows at local
fairs and 4-H shows. Here she is with her Holstein cow,
Erin.
Amanda lives her family on a 200-acre farm in Wattsburg, where they have 75 Amanda’s family ls supportive! of Jlf r < * airy prin '
dairy animals. Her parents Ralph and Michele knew that a farm was the best Froni left are her brother Stephen, mom
place to raise their children. Michele, father Ralph, and Amanda.
become the 1999-2000 Pennsyl
vania Alternate Dairy Princess.
“Ever since I was a little girl, I
wanted to be dairy princess,”
said Amanda. “My friends and I
would always go to the pageants
and watch the newest dairy
princess in awe.”
Amanda comes from a 75-
head dairy farm in Erie County,
just three miles from New York.
Her parents, Ralph and Michele,
both work on the farm, which is
called MI-RA-CREST.
Amanda’s responsibilities on
the farm include taking care of
the calves and helping with
other chores when she is needed.
She also helps milk when her
father, who serves on both the
Pennsylvania DHIA and Genex
Board of Directors, is away at
meetings.
Amanda’s parents both grew
up on dairy farms and knew that
the farm was the only place
where they wanted to raise
Amanda and her 13-year-old
brother Stephen.
“Being with my family is my
favorite part of growing up on a
farm,” said Amanda. “I always
felt fortunate to have both of my
parents around all of the time.”
Both Ralph and Michele come
from large families. Ralph has
eleven brothers and sisters. All
but one of them live on dairy
farms. Michele has seven broth
ers and sisters with one living on
a farm. Amanda’s cousin
Wendy Gilkinson was Warren
County Dairy Princess in 1997.
“We always try to get to
gether with both families over
the holidays,” said Amanda.
“We can all fit in one house, but
not in one room.”
Amanda’s dream came true
last September when she was
crowned Pennsylvania Alternate
Dairy Princess. “I never ex
pected to be crowned a state al
ternate,” said Amanda. “My
goal was just to be in the top
seven finalists.”
Amanda has had lots of
coaching in being state royalty.
While she is the first state alter
nate from Erie County, two out
of the last four Pennsylvania
Dairy Princesses Rhonda
Keiklak and Nicole Meabon
have come from Erie.
“Rhonda was at my house the
night before I left for the state
pageant, making me do my skit,
going through my clothes, and
helping me get ready,” said
Amanda. “Nicki and I keep in
touch through email and com
pare notes on princess activi
ties.”
Although she was nervouse
about being in the top seven,
Amanda was most nervous
about giving her speech during
the pageant. She was one of two
winners in the speech category
and had to give her speech in
front of the coronation audience.
Her speech was about growing
up on a dairy farm.
Amanda has enjoyed meeting
all of the people she has met
through being both Erie County
and Pennsylvania Alternate
Dairy Princess. “Everyone has
something different that’s inter
esting about them.”
On the county level, Amanda
has already fulfilled most of the
requirements for the second
level incentive that is awarded
to princesses at the end of the
year. She has done 37 school
promotions, along with many
school promotions, newspaper
articles, and special events. She
has one dairy maid in her county
who helps with the promotions.
On the state level, she has at
tended many banquets, spent
countless hours at the Pennsyl
vania Farm Show, and spoke to
several farm groups on behalf of
the dairy princess program. Last
weekend she helped at the Book
and the Cook Fair in Philadel
phia.
Amanda enjoys fulfilling the
school promotions and non
farm presentation requirements
of her reign the most.
“When you go and talk to
people who aren’t from farms or
to young children, you really
walk out of there feeling like
you’ve taught them something
that they didn’t know before,”
said Amanda.
According to Amanda, the
biggest challenge of being Penn
sylvania Alternate Dairy Prin
cess is balancing her dairy
princess activities with school
and extracurricular activities.
She has missed 30 days of school
so far but feels fortunate because
her teachers are very supportive
of her reign.
Amanda is a senior at Seneca
High School in Wattsburg. She
is the student council president
and the District I student coun
cil president. She belongs to the
National Honor Society, plays
volleyball, and runs track. She
also serves as the contact person
for the Pennsylvania Free En
terprise, a weeklong session
teaching sophomores and jun
iors about running their own
business.
Outside of school, Amanda is
a very active eleventh-year
member in her local 4-H dairy
club. She has attended almost
every 4-H activity imaginable,
including the 1999 National 4-H
Conference in Atlanta, Georgia.
Amanda was one of 13 dele
gates selected to attend the na
tional conference. People from
all over attended the conference,
including delegates from
Hawaii, Japan, and Alaska.
“We spent the week after
Thanksgiving at the conference,
and we had a blast,” said
Amanda. “I got to be on CNN’s
Talk Back Live show and saw
the Olympic stadium in At
lanta.”
Amanda has been the presi
dent of her 4-H dairy club, the
Dairy Dippers, for the last five
years. But this year she stepped
down to serve as vice president.
She is also on the teen council
and participated in dairy bowl
for Warren County in 1999.
Owning four 4-H animals,
Amanda shows at local fairs, the
4-H round-up, and district 4-H
shows. She doesn’t attend the
larger shows in the state, but she
is usually pleased with how her
dairy animals place locally.
Amanda is very active in the
Pennsylvania Council of Coop
eratives (PCC). In 1997 she
started out in PCC by attending
the local meeting, then went to
Shippensburg for the state con
ference, and was chosen as a
state finalist to attend the 1998
national conference held in Cali-
fomia.
In 1999 Amanda was one of
six teens asked to come back to
the state conference as scholar
staff. “I helped plan the week’s
activities and served as co-chair
and an instructor for the week
long event,” said Amanda.
Amanda is also a member of
the St. Methias Catholic Church
in New York. Next year, she
plans to attend the Pennsylvania
State University, majoring in ag
riculture economics.
While balancing her other ac
tivities with her dairy princess
responsibilities is challenging,
Amanda wouldn’t give it up for
anything. “Being a dairy prin
cess is a once-in-a-lifetime op
portunity.”
She attributes her dairy prin
cess reign to helping her become
more outgoing. “I am not afraid
to try something new,” said
Amanda. “I also learned how to
get along with people better.”
(Turn to Page B 4)