Photo submitted to the Times Observer Veronica Ludwick with her second place certificate

Veronica Ludwick, a 2022 graduate of Eisenhower High School, graduated from Alfred State with her associate’s degree in agriculture technology recently.

She also recently competed at the National Dairy Challenge held in Visalia, Calif as part of a team of four students from Alfred State College, Cornell University, the University of New Hampshire and the University of Wisconsin-Madison. The competition focused on the teams working with the management team of a dairy farm and presenting on how to increase profitability of the working farm.

“(It) was both challenging and exciting,” Ludwick said. “(We were) tasked with trying to figure out a farm’s biggest areas of improvement. We had to present our findings to a panel of judges, which required a lot of brainstorming, creativity, and teamwork.”

Ludwick said her team had never met before the competition.

“We had to find common ground and learn to communicate effectively quickly,” she said.

Ludwick’s team placed second at the national competition.

“Overall, the competition taught us a lot about teamwork, adaptability, and the power of diverse ideas,” she said.