82-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, January 26, 2002
Pennsylvania First Alternate Dairy Princess Is A Farm Girl At Heart
CAROLYN N. MOYER
Bradford Co. Correspondent
TROY (Bradford Co.) - “A
farm girl at heart.” That’s how
Pennsylvania’s First Alternate
Dairy Princess Sara Jennings is
described by many who know
her.
The daughter of the late Ron
ald and Nancy Jennings, Sara
firmly embraces everything that
farm life has to offer. Although
she wasn’t raised on a farm her
self, there were plenty of oppor
tunities to learn about farm life
from both sets of her grandpar
ents, Don and Leah Jennings,
and Mark and Louise Scott. She’s
sure that their influence had a lot
to do with her running for the
Bradford County title.
“I wanted to be able to support
what they did for all their lives,”
Jennings said, although she ad
mits that when she was smaller,
she was somewhat scared of the
big cows.
“I think I was afraid because
one of my grandfathers is a cattle
dealer and his farm was a stop
for cows on their way from Cana
da to Florida, so a lot of the cows
were really skittish. They were on
unfamiliar ground. I loved the
calves, and that’s still one of my
favorite jobs, to work with the
calves, even though we just have
beef cows now.”
Jennings got over her fear of
cows when she stayed with a
friend who had a 4-H calf. She
helped lead the calf and get it
ready to be shown at the fair. She
is now proud to say that she has
Sara Jennings is grateful that both of her grandparents
were dairy farmers. Here she shares a special moment
with her grandfather, Mark Scott, who loaned her his FFA
American Farmer Degree certificate to be one of her good
luck charms.
overcome her fear.
“It took me a long time to get
to where 1 am now. I think that’s
one of the most ironic things for
me,” said Jennings.
Knowing what it’s like to be
afraid of the cows now helps her
relate to young children who
aren’t sure they want to get close
to such big animals.
“I like to tell kids it’s all right
to be scared of the cows. They’re
nice, but you have to remember
to ask their owners before you pet
them and that kind of thing.”
Jennings first entered the dairy
princess program after spending
a year as the Endless Mountains
Maple Queen. She enjoyed visit
ing schools and meeting new peo
ple. The first year she entered the
Bradford County Dairy Princess
pageant, she was chosen as the
second alternate and learned
even more about the dairy indus
try.
‘I really didn’t know what to
expect coming in the first year,”
said Jennings. ‘I learned and 1
grew so much, and I really got a
lot of encouragement.”
Support came from family,
friends and even workers at the
Because farming and quilting are both rich rural traditions, Sara chose to design her
scrapbook with a patchwork quilt theme. Although she doesn’t quilt herself, she has
studied quilt designs and appreciates all the hard work that goes into each and every
one.
state level. Her brother, Jeff, is when I got down there, I had
also a willing participant, often placed in all three.”
finding himself inside a purple Jennings came away from the
cow costume. He also helps set pageant with an honorable men
up props for her skits. tion award for her scrapbook, an
Because Jennings got so much honorable mention award for her
out of the program, she decided skit, and a first place award for
to give it another try the follow- her speech,
ingyear. “I had so far exceeded all of
“I want to be the county coor- my goals by the time I had got to
dinator some day and I really the pageant night, that I was
thought that I should have at happy already. I didn’t have any
least two years of experience, more expectations for the night
other than to get through it.”
But there was one more sur
prise in store for Jennings. She
would receive the title of Penn
sylvania First Alternate Dairy
Princess.
“When they called my name, I
couldn’t believe it,” she said.
Jennings’ achievements prove
that if you really want something,
you should never stop trying. At
21, Jennings thought that her age
might put her at a disadvantage.
“I think a lot of people look at
it and ask why is a girl this old
interested in being a dairy prin
cess. But I think when they real
ize that this is what I want to do
for a career, then they see that
there’s a real strong potential
there. This is like an internship.”
She would like to see more
older girls compete for the title.
“For me, I could put my col
lege on hold. Other girls can
lighten their class loads. I know
that when I was in high school, I
wouldn’t have been able to put
the time into it like I can now,”
she said.
Every day Jennings spends at
least one hour completing dairy
even if I was an alternate again,”
she said.
But the second time on stage princess duties. Many days the
proved to be a golden opportuni- tasks fill entire days or weeks,
ty for Jennings who would now Even though it’s a lot of responsi
get the chance to compete for the bility, Jennings wants to encour
state title. She didn’t make the age anyone who’s interested to
trip, however, without her good run.
luck charms her grandfather’s “I want to encourage anyone
American Farmer Degree certifi- to run, especially having served
cate, one of his FFA pins, and her as an alternate and then becom
father’s pin for 10 years of service ing a member of the state royalty,
with the Department of Environ- That’s just beyond my whole
mental Resources. She didn’t put scope of things. It has changed
all her hopes on luck alone, how- my life so much. It would help
ever. anybody,” she said.
“I had goals going to the state Between the people she’s met
pageant. I wanted to get an hon- and the places she’s gone, Jen
orable mention in something,”
she said. “The biggest surprise is
nings can’t say enough about her
experiences. It has definitely
broadened her horizons beyond
her wildest dreams.
Sara Jennings’ room in her home is a testimonial to her
love of the dairy industry and quilting. Here she is sur
rounded by reminders of her role as dairy princess and
the quilts that she loves.
“I’ve been in Harrisburg more
times since September than I ever
had been in my entire life. I’ve
gotten more confident in my abil
ities to deal with complete
strangers,” she said
Rewards come from every
promotion that she is involved
with.
“There’s always that one per
son who tries that piece of cheese
and asks what kind it is and de-
cides to buy some of it, or the
little kid who wants to grow up to
be dairy princess,” she said.
She has also faced many chal
lenges in her role.
“Sometimes when I talk to sen
ior citizens’ groups they will ask
about things that I’m not familiar
with, like a lot of the older prac
tices or a lot about cow health. I
have the basic dairy princess
training on cow health, but I’m
not really on the farm day to day,
so I’m not as familiar with all the
terms and the technical reasons
why things happen. I don’t know
if they’re trying to stump me on
purpose or not,” she said.
Both of her grandparents help
her when she faces situations that
she doesn’t know how to deal
with. They help her with things
as simple as giving directions to a
farm or explaining technical
questions about farm life and
herd health.
‘I wouldn’t be as knowledge
able if I didn’t have both my
grandparents to call on,” said
Jennings.
Another issue she finds chal
lenging is dealing with kids who
have no farm experience at all.
‘We deal with so many things
that to a non-farm family might
seem inappropriate. We talk
about where milk comes from on
a cow and the farm kids will
come out with one term and the
other kids will all (gasp),” she
said.
After completing her role as
the state alternate, Jennings
plans to resume her studies at El
mira Business Institute where she
is working on an associate’s de
gree in accounting. After that,
she’s not sure what the future has
in store, maybe a career in agri
cultural communications or agri
cultural business.
Wherever life takes her, Jen
nings will always carry the mem
ories of this year and the skills
that she has learned with her.
She will also continue to promote
the dairy industry while encour
aging others to promote it as
well.
“There are a lot of misconcep-
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