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2009 GRADUATES
Kayla King
2009-10 Student Advancement Committee
Thomas Ayers GOAL: Earn a CPA distinction and start my career in public accounting.
Alyssa Bane GOAL: My primary professional goal is to help re-define agriculture through strategic communications. I want every person to know that the agriculture and food industry touches their life on a daily basis and to generate support and positivity toward the industry, its people, and its practices.
Janell Baum
Zack Beever
Anna Bengston
Thomas Blean GOAL: To have a career where I look forward to go going to work on Monday.
Elizabeth Bowman GOAL: Work within the agriculture Industry to better the future of agriculture.
Matt Briscoe GOAL: After graduation I would like to pursue a career in the agricultural industry where I can use the marketing skills I have learned from classes, and be able to help farmers on a day-to-day basis.
Jared Brown
Hayley Bunselmeyer GOAL: After graduating with a degree in crop sciences, I plan to work within the seed industry. My goal is to assist in developing better crop genetics that will in turn benefit my family’s small grain farm.
Matt Carton GOAL: After I earn my degree from the University of Illinois, I plan on working for an agricultural industry with the hope of being close to home in order to help out on the family farm operation.
Melissa Conrad GOAL: I want to become a veterinarian focusing on small animals.
Amy Davis GOAL: My career goals are to obtain a bachelor’s degree in animal science and then continue on to graduate school. My focus will be on animal nutrition, with my long range professional goals to pursue a research and development career with a poultry company.
Chris Francis GOAL: Not sure, perhaps seminary or mission work.
Jessica Frohning GOAL: Obtain my master’s degree in plant breeding.
Landon Frye GOAL: To have a career for an agribusiness company and advocate for the betterment of the agriculture community and industry.
Colt Holloran
Mitch Heisler GOAL: Growing up on a farm, my interests and passions are in agriculture. I would like to stay directly involved in agriculture no matter what my career or other interests. My current interests lie input sales and grain trading. I am very fortunate to have had internships and job shadowing opportunities and I hope to be able to base my future ventures on those experiences.
Ben Hugenberg
Yurie Kim GOAL: I want to work as an exotic animal veterinarian and travel the world working with different animals as well as people.
Elias Klokkenga GOAL: To be a major contributing employee and influence in some way to the agribusiness industry, seed, and inputs sector.
Jamie Laatsch GOAL: I plan to attend graduate school to further study the relationship between society and the Earth’s natural resources. Also, I hope to pursue a career that allows for the combination of my interest in environmental studies and design. For example, designing urban office buildings that are more sustainable, energy efficient, and have minimal effect on the environment.
Jamison Mosley GOAL: My education and recent experiences have increased my appreciation for value-added production of agriculture products. I am committed to actively participating in improving the sustainability of agriculture production by pursuing a career in crop and soil management after graduating from college.
Michelle Moss GOAL: Earn my J.D. in ag law, hoping to practice law in the State of Illinois.
Megan Ott
Barbara Paulus
Jacob Prather
Carly Rakes GOAL: Thanks to my College of ACES education, I have been fortunate enough to experience internships that have taught me more about agriculture than I could have imagined. I have an interest in public relations and agricultural journalism. It is important to have communicators, who understand agriculture, to talk to both producers and consumers in order to understand each other. At this time, I’m considering earning my masters degree in communications after graduating. Once I enter the “real world,” I hope to have a role in Illinois agriculture where I can fulfill my goals.
Anna Schelkopf
Dorothy Spencer GOAL: To pursue a career in the agricultural communications field as a public relations professional, communications specialist, or publication editor.
Jordan Tate GOAL: To obtain a career in the agricultural equipment industry and work to increase machinery efficiency and productivity.
Matthew Wassmann GOAL: The main career goal I have is to get a degree in agricultural and consumer economics with a concentration in markets and management that will propel my career forward and give me options in the job world. Getting a job in markets intrigues me the most, but I also know that skills in management will help me move up the corporate latter. I will strive to be in a management position within four years of graduating.
George Witchek
Jacob Wyffels GOAL: To work for an elite seed company and to help in the advancement and improvement of the agricultural industry.
John Wyss GOAL: To obtain and establish a successful agronomy-related career in the seed, fertilizer, or chemical industry. In addition to working full time with an agricultural company, I wish to remain active in the family farming operation. I aspire to be involved with production agriculture for the rest of my life whether as a producer or as an industry professional.
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Activities
SAC Alumni Update
David Allspach David is an account manager at Monsanto Company.
Emily Allspach
My current position as an internal auditor with John Deere has given me great opportunities to travel to various
Deere organizations to assess their control environments. I have traveled to China, Canada, Louisiana, and
Switzerland and am planning trips to Australia and the Netherlands.
Marilyn Tanner-Blasiar
I started my third year and final term as spokesperson for the American Dietetic Association. I’ve been a
registered dietitian, study coordinator, and pediatric dietitian at Washington University School of Medicine
in St. Louis for 14 years.
Nick Block Nick is a manager in business development for Deer & Co.’s intelligent vehicle systems. He and his wife have three children, Nyah (9), Kamdon (6), and Kennah (2).
Anne Marie Boone Anne Marie is the student academic program coordinator for the College of ACES Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. She was married March 28, 2009.
Andrew Bowman Andrew is an insurance agent with Bowman Insurance Service and a farmer. He will be getting married on August 22, 2009, to Karlie Elliott, another SAC alum.
Kirk Builta Kirk is the information director for the Champaign County Farm Bureau. It was an honor to be elected to the position of young alumni director on the College of ACES Alumni Association's Board of Directors in November of 2008.
Elizabeth "E.J." McIntire Bunzick E.J. is the office manager at Starling Chevrolet-Cadillac in Deland, Florida. Son Dylan Thomas is nine years old.
Sarah Pfeifer Chaddock Lots of changes in the Chaddock household. Late last year Sarah "retired" from OSF Saint Francis Medical Center as director of donor relations to part-time status in order to spend more time at home with Abigail, age 1. She has the best of both worlds--one day a week in the office and a little work at home the remainder of the week. They also moved to a new house in June, keeping them very busy!
Jessica (Wernsing) Chappelear
My big news: the birth of our first child, a girl, Peyton Sawyer, on June 21, 2009 (Father's Day).
Meg (Webster) Cline
After 2 1/2 years in the Professional MBA Program, I graduated with my MBA in general management from Illinois. It was certainly a rewarding experience. The opportunity to further my education and travel abroad to South Korea in January 2009 was invaluable! In celebration of my graduation, Scott and I took our daughter Anna Kate, two nieces, and my father-in-law to Disney World in June for a week-long adventure!
Rachel (Rumple) Comerford
On December 30, 2008, we welcomed Reagan Renee Comerford to the world. Everyone is doing well and Garrett is enjoying being a big brother!
Susan Coppess
The most exciting news is the birth of our daughter, Abigail, in September! Susan is a research manager with the School Nutrition Association in Alexandria, Virginia.
Brian Deverman Brian is a technical product manager with Pioneer Hi-Bred International in Bloomington. He has three children, Kenton (4), Brant (2), and Katelyn (5 weeks).
Jodi (Grimes) Deverman
After several years in cardiac device sales, I switched to neuro device sales. I have been busy learning new technologies and a new marketplace. The cases are more scheduled and it gives me more family time. We are enjoying our new home, which we moved into in September 2008. Our little guy is two and our constant entertainment. We are really enjoying being closer to family and friends and also closer to St. Louis for both the baseball and football seasons!
Cara (Musselman) Fast During the last year I served as a lead trainer to other children's hospitals nationwide to replicate the safety store concept in their own institutions. I was also part of a team that secured grant funding to remodel and expand the Riley Safety Store at Riley Hospital for Children in Indianapolis that I have managed for the last 4 1/2 years. The Riley Safety Store offers low-cost safety education in a simulated home-like setting that allows visitors to see products in use and allows them hands-on experience with the products.
Bruce Frank This past year has been one of ups and downs. Immediately after graduation, my father passed away and I have been helping manage our family farm while working for John Deere. I am currently in the tractor marketing rep training program for John Deere and will be moving into a new position in the fall.
Matt Full
I became engaged to Amanda Davis (ACES ‘06, DVM ‘10) in March 2009. The wedding is scheduled for July 24, 2010.
Keith Funderburk On the professional level, we recently expanded our current swine operation by constructing two new 2,400 head wean to finish barns. This expansion has enabled us to remain more competitive within the swine industry.
Kristin (Reifsteck) Faust Kristin is a visiting research specialist at the U of I, a registered dietitian with Nitureion Education & Training, and an instructor at Parkland College.
Kate Gamewell
We moved back to Chicago (from St. Louis) during fall 2008. Due in December 2009 with second child. Kate is a manager for Accenture in Chicago.
Maura Gill I completed two master’s degrees at U of I, moved into a new house, and started a new job at Procter & Gamble as an associate human resources manager for global finance and accounting.
Linda Gould I graduated from U of I Vet School and landed a job as a mixed animal practitioner with Ashton Veterinary Clinic.
Heather Carty Hampton I will receive my master’s degree in special education in August 2009.
Brea (Nelson) Harms
In late 2008 I accepted the position of territory manager with John Deere. In February 2009 we relocated to Carroll, Iowa, and I now work daily with 17 John Deere dealer locations on growing sales and profitability (among other things). Ryan (ALS '00 and '02) accepted a position as director of development working for Iowa State University's College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. The kids continue to do well, and we enjoy Carroll. However, we certainly miss being close to campus.
Darren Havens I recently took a new position with John Deere that involved a moved from Atlanta, GA, to Des Moines.
Jody (McCormick) Janssen
Work responsibilities expanding with changing of staff, but even more monumental, we welcomed another Janssen into in the world this summer. Aliyah Lillian Janssen was born on June 9, 2009 weighing in at 9 lbs. and measuring 21 inches. She will go by Ali in honor of her Uncle Alvie, who we lost on June 1, 2008.
Sydney Jarrett I have completed my first year of graduate school and identified a gene for powdery mildew disease resistance in wheat using SSR markers.
Jackie (Garner) Jenks
Most importantly, we added another member to our family. Evan Garrett Jenks was born July 23, 2008. It is truly a joy to be a mom of the sons and the hardest job ever! After being a stay-at-home mom for seven years, I dusted off my ag comm skills and started helping with public relations for my husband's business, Jenks Family Farms. Check out our website at www.jenksfamilyfarms.com.
Stephen Jeschke
I got engaged to be married this past spring and will be getting married next March to my fiancée, Erin Shortell. I also received my MBA from Harvard Business School this past June.
Brent and Elizabeth (Schilling) Johnson We are in the process of relocating to Springfield and love spending time with our 18-month old son, Owen.
Jackie (Bakken) Jones Jeff and I just celebrated our 1 year anniversary. We're enjoying spoiling our "child," Maggie, a terrier/beagle mix puppy. I was just recently promoted to education manager at Illinois Agriculture in the Classroom. Jeff was promoted as well and is now the AMS & Service Manager at Cross Brothers Implement, Inc. in Clinton.
Paul Kirbach I was hired as a seed production trainee after graduation, then in January 2009 I starting my job in seed quality at Monsanto's Iowa Foundation corn packaging facility in Grinnell.
Heather Hampton-Knodle I was invited or appointed to serve on several committees: Junior Achievement SW Illinois Advisory Board, vice chair; Central Illinois Economic Development Authority; College of ACES Ag and Consumer Economics Advisory Committee; Montgomery County Planning Commission; and 4-H Memorial Camp Fundraising Campaign.
Amy (Matthews) Lloyd
Matt and I teach the young adult (college and career) Sunday school class at our church. We are taking them to Russia on a mission trip in August, returning to the same area that we visited in 2003.
Aaron Lower I graduated from the University of Illinois College of Veterinary Medicine this spring, and have joined Carthage Veterinary Service, a practice specializing in swine consulting and management.
Josh Miller Josh is a financial adviser with Table Grove State Bank. He and wife Emily have a 10-month-old son, Jackson.
Carrie (Bertelsen) Pollard Carrie is a technical services manager at Bethany Animal Hospital in Sycamore.
Julie (Musselman) Reiling I coached my daughter's basketball team this year and have been assisting Bryan with coaching her softball team this summer. I have also started a new 4-H club this year and serve as co-leader. I have really been enjoying my job at The Food Processing Center at the University of Nebraska and have had some interesting projects to work on the last year.
Sarah (Schilling) Ross
Amy (Ludwig) Rouse
Amy has been an account supervisor at Paragon Marketing Group LLC, in Niles, for nine years.
Katie Leigh
Katie is a freelance writer working out of Key West.
Genny (Schutz) Six
Gennifer Marie Schutz and Benjamin Allen Six were married March 21, 2009, at Christ United Methodist Church in White Hall. The bride is employed as a professional recruiter for Rich Connell AGRI-SEARCH. The groom graduated from Western Illinois University with a bachelor's degree in agricultural business. He is employed by The Maschhoffs Inc and farms in the Chapin area where the newlyweds reside.
Holly (Hinderliter) Spangler
Since I missed out on sending in my update last year, I'll go back a little further to catch up. We added Caroline Rachel to our family in April 2008. She's been a happy little blessing in our lives, and it's been heart-warming to watch her, Jenna, and Nathan blossom into such loving siblings (most of the time). In other personal news, we've recently finished a house remodel and are now enjoying some semblance of normality. We continue to farm with John's family, and are currently enjoying a crop that (remarkably) only had to be planted once. 2009 has proven challenging in many ways for production agriculture, but we remain optimistic. Professionally, much is still the same. Still with Prairie Farmer part-time, still enjoying writing and visiting with folks in the industry. How remarkable that so many of our old SAC colleagues are now scattered throughout positions of influence across Illinois agriculture—must've been good training ground!
Heather (Clodfelter) Spray
I still work for AgReliant Genetics in quality assurance. This past year, I was able to develop a production internship program for our company. We are in our second summer and currently have 13 interns in the program. On a personal note, my husband and I saw the Cardinals during spring training in Florida this year. Go Cards!
Andrea Steele This fall I will begin law school at Washington University in St. Louis!
Cathy Walker Steidinger
Melissa Stierwalt Melissa is a manager for Accountancy Divisions in London.
Rod Stoll Rod is vice president for public relations for Farm Credit Services of Illinois.
Curt Strubhar
Agricultural futures and cash markets continue to be very dynamic. That makes my position both challenging and rewarding. Personally, Susan and I will celebrate 14 years of marriage this summer and our children continue to grow too quickly. They play five sports between them and participate in a variety of camps and other activities too. They added a new "sibling" early this year with our Chocolate Lab Landry joining our family.
Robert Swinger I recently finished a residency in veterinary ophthalmology in Miami FL, and will soon be moving back to the Midwest and working in Aurora.
Carrie (Muehling) Vogel
I continue to work as the agribusiness director for WJBC Radio and a few other stations in the Radio Bloomington family. I adjusted my schedule this past year to just a few early morning hours in the office each day with the rest of my work done from home. This allows me to get home before my husband leaves for work, which allowed us to eliminate our regular child care provider. Our biggest news on the personal side was the addition of Autumn Eileen in January. My husband, Scott, is finishing up his master's degree in administration and Caleb will be four and start preschool this fall. I completed the Illinois Agricultural Leadership Program this past year. We stay busy juggling careers and family. We still enjoy cheering for the Illini even in the midst of Redbird country!
Paula Waggoner Paula is an editorial liaison for the Council of Remote Area Nurses of Australia.
Meagan Wells Started my MBA at UIC.
Kirby Wernsing I just survived my first year teaching 5th grade at O'Fallon School District #90 in O'Fallon! I got engaged over Christmas to Justin Orr, whom I have dated for over six years and who is from my hometown. We are getting married on November 14, 2009. I will be moving to Maryville in July 2009 where my fiancé and I are purchasing a new house!
Jenny Fritzsche Wold Jenny met husband Chet in class, they got engaged in the same classroom, and had an orange and blue wedding. Chet is an LAS grad.
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2008 GRADUATES
 Bruce Frank 2007-08 SAC president member 2005-08 ACE—Agribusiness, Farm and Financial Management Athens Bruce has been moving around the country training with John Deere. He’ll eventually end up in Lenexa, Kansas, long enough to unpack.
Travis has taken a position with Pioneer Hi-Bred in Mt. Pleasant, Iowa, as a management assistant.
Jamie lives and works in Plainfield at Clarence Davids & Company, providers of landscape development and management services.
Sydney is attending North Carolina State University in Raleigh as a master's student in small grains plant breeding.
Jacqueline is a grad student at Oklahoma State University studying crop rotation and nitrogen management.
Jonathan is working for Wyffels as a district sales manager for Carroll, JoDavies, and Stephenson Counties after interning with them for several summers.
Thomas will begin vet school at the University of Illinois in fall 2008.
2007-08 Committee Tommy Ayers Tommy is spending his summer as an accounting intern at Central Illinois Manufacturing Company.
Alyssa is a marketing and communications intern with Agriculture Future of America in Kansas City, Missouri.
Elizabeth Bowman Justin Brown This summer, Justin is working as a marketing intern for Monsanto in St. Louis. He is currently working with the corn states department, where he’s learning about the corn genetics licensing industry. Throughout the summer, he is developing business tools to assist the corn states field personnel.
This summer Matt completed a 10 week internship with The Maschhoffs, one of the leading pork producers in the country. He worked on several projects in their wean to market division.
Chris is working around home this summer and taking plant biology and macroeconomics online through Parkland.
Jim is spending his second summer working in the Washington D.C. office of Congressman
John Shimkus, where he is serving as the senior intern and intern
coordinator. Mitch Heisler Mitch is interning for Wyffels Hybrids, Inc., a regional seed corn company in Illinois and Iowa. He is spending his time primarily in northern and central Illinois talking to farmers and trying to discover what distinguishes one seed company from another.
Kayla is working at Valley Bank and Trust in Nebraska to learn more about banking. She is also taking a few online classes and going to Las Vegas for a quick vacation.
Paul is interning with Busch Agricultural Resources, Inc. in Fort Collins, Colorado, a subsidiary of Anheuser-Busch. He is working with the Barley Research program exploring pre-harvest sprouting in barley plants
Eli is working at the Monsanto soybean production facility in Mason City. The majority of his time has been spent working with the production and development of RoundUp Ready 2 in plot fields and contracted grower's fields, which is aiding Monsanto in being steps away from approving the commodity for international commerce.
Keith Mellert Keith is a local field adviser intern with Monsanto in southern/central Ohio.
Megan is working as a marketing intern with Monsanto at their corporate headquarters in St. Louis, Missouri. Megan Ott Megan is interning with the Illinois Corn Marketing Board and Illinois Corn Growers doing communications work.
Brittany is a commodity trading intern with Archer Daniels Midland at a soybean and cottonseed processing facility in Valdosta, Georgia.
Carly is working at the Sangamon-Menard Extension Office, helping to coordinate the two county 4-H shows. She also competed in the Sangamon County Fair Queen pageant, placing second runner up out of 16 contestants.
Collin spent the beginning of the summer interning in the ACES Office of Advancement; he was then off to Peru to conduct research and to work in a local school in Chuchani.
Lerin is a URI project research intern at the Champaign County Humane Society, working for Dr. David Miller's lab while applying to veterinary schools, taking a physics II class, and settling in to her new apartment.
Blake is working at Lake Michigan Biological Station conducting a fisheries study on the early life history of larval alewife.
Dorothy is working as a marketing intern for AgriGold Hybrids.
Andrea is interning with Caterpillar in technical marketing (Peoria).
Reid Thompson
Laura has been working at the USDA RMA in Springfield this summer. She also traveled to Paris, France, with students from ACES and Penn State.
Matthew Wassman
Levi has been working as a field sales Iintern with Monsanto in western Iow.
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Rose Bowl 2008
ExplorACES Student Advancement Committee members played a large part in the planning and execution of 2008 ExplorACES. More than 1,000 high school students attended the March 7 and 8 event.
SAC Participates in Relay for Life
Allspach Receives 2008 Warren Wessels Award Selection of the Wessels Award recipient is be based on scholarship, leadership record, participation in professional development activities, and contribution to the overall quality of life within the college.Five finalists are selected by a review committee comprised of the College of ACES Student Council Executive Committee, and the associate and assistant deans within the College of ACES Office of Academic Programs. The award, which is accompanied by a $500 check, was presented at the ACES Student Awards Banquet, held on Sunday, April 20, 2008.
Student Advancement Committee Members Honored
Matt Carton '10, who is majoring in ag and consumer economics, and Alyssa Bane '10, majoring in ag communications, each received the SAC Impact Award, which is presented to a new member who has served as the best new representative of the organization. Bruce Frank '08, SAC president, received the Karena C. Elliot Loyalty Award, named after the founder of SAC. It is given to a graduating senior who has best served SAC during his/her membership. The members received their awards during the ACES Student Awards Banquet held in April.
SAC Spring Trip: St. Louis
SAC ALUMNI UPDATE Emily Allspach
Tara Anderson
Jeff Beavers
Bill Bodine
Andy Brantner
Kate Brucker
Sarah (Pfeifer) Chaddock Jessica (Wernsing) Chappelear
Susan (Mueller) Coppess
Chelsea (Statton) Dean
Yale Epler
Katie Dierker
Tony Drach
Kate Stokes-Gamewell
Maura Gill
Lynda Gould
Derrick Hall
Brea (Nelson) Harms
Darren Havens
Harley Hepner
Keri (Kimpling) Holdgrafer
Jody (McCormick) Janssen
Aaron Lower
John M. McLaughlin
Jennifer (Libbra) Ostrom
Timothy Reed
Julie (Musselman) Reiling
Andy Robertson
Jessica (Duval) Robertson
Sarah Schilling Ross
Amy (Ludwig) Rouse
Rita Sierens
Brad Smith
Kelly Smith
Keith Soltwedel
Heather (Clodfelter) Spray
Melissa Stierwalt
Rod Stoll
Curt Strubhar
Marilyn Tanner-Blasiar
Alison (Carpenter) Tarr
Lori Tillock
Meagan Wells
Kirby Wernsing
Kimberly Bartlow Wolter
Katheryn Baker-Wycislo
Jim Zumwalt
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