Taylor Schaefer, current Alice in Dairyland, experienced a very emotional night with the selection of a new Alice at this year’s Alice in Dairyland Finals. It was an opportunity for her to reflect on the lessons learned, memories made, and experiences that will propel her into a post-Alice future in Wisconsin agriculture.
This time a year ago, Schaefer was selected as the 75th Alice in Dairyland. Since officially stepping into the role of Alice, her journey over the past year had her driving 34,000 miles, participating in hundreds of interviews, and sharing thousands of social media posts. Schaefer will still serve as Alice through the month of June when she expects to put an additional 10,000 miles on for a number of June Dairy Month related events.
Knowing that her time is coming to a close, she has been thinking about what this experience has provided her. One of the greatest takeaways Schaefer has gained from this year has been self-confidence. She shared that traveling across the state to various events and meeting thousands of individuals, both agricultural and nonagricultural alike, pushed her to grow in new ways.
When asked if she had any advice for the new Alice, Ashley Hagenow, she responded by saying “soak up every single moment. Every memory, every laugh, every interaction – soak it up because you only get to experience that one time.”
While Schaefer hasn’t made any formal decisions on what comes next, she knows that it will be centered around her love for agriculture.
