Essay Contest Winners

MADISON - Zeki Abu-Lughod, a 5th grade home school student from Saukville, is the statewide winner of the Agriculture in the Classroom's "Agriculture and Me" Essay Contest. The essay contest is sponsored by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and the 5 A Day Program/Nutrition and Physical Activity Program of the Wisconsin Department of Health & Family Services.

Zeki is pictured receiving his award from the Ozaukee County Farm Bureau. (L-R) Mike Winker, Ozaukee County Farm Bureau president; Zeki; Sharon Albinger, Ozaukee County Farm Bureau Women's Committee; Kathleen Doenier, Zeki's mother; and Nancy Degnitz, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Women's Committee Chairwoman. Click here to get 150 dpi image of the photo>>>

The contest is promoted by the Farm Bureau Women's Committee. For the Agriculture and Me Essay Contest, students were asked to write a 100-300 word essay with the theme, "Wisconsin Agriculture- Providing Healthy Food Choices." Each district winner received a party for their classroom, educational resources for the teacher, and a classroom presentation and lesson on Wisconsin agriculture. A total of 1245 students statewide wrote essays for the competition.

Click here to read Zeki's essay>>>>

Other district winners of the contest included:

Zach Miller- Grade 4, Central Wisconsin Christian School, Waupun
Sarah Coppenbarger- Grade 4, Pecatonica Elementary School, Hollandale
Jordan Pacheco- Grade 4, Blair-Taylor Elementary School, Blair
Sydney Sabel- Grade 4, FACES IMS, Fond du Lac
Alli Pietrowski- Grade 4, Valders Elementary School, Valders
Amanda Arnold- Grade 4, Oconto Elementary School, Oconto
Andy Stoner- Grade 4, Trinity Lutheran School, Marshfield
Kristin Thannum- Our Lady of the Lake Catholic School, Ashland

Wisconsin Agriculture: Providing Health Food Choices
By Zeki Abu Lughod
5th grade, home school, Saukville

Wisconsin agriculture provides many types of health food choices for your body. There are fruits, vegetables, grains, poultry, beef and other meat products and of course, Wisconsin’s dairy products.

Dairy cattle provide milk, and in milk there are plenty of good nutrients like calcium vitamin D, and protein. Milk is made into dairy products like cheeses, ice cream, yogurt, whipped cream, sour cream, butter, and buttermilk. Cattle are also used for their meat.

Chickens are raised for their meat and their eggs which both provide a lot of protein. Turkeys are low in fat and cholesterol. Over six million turkeys are raised in Wisconsin each year. They are often eaten at holiday dinners. Wisconsin farmers raise other birds such as ostriches, ducks, emus, pheasants, and geese.

Wheat provides different types of cereals, bran, flour, macaroni, bread, gluten, and starch products. In those products there are lots of carbohydrates, vitamins, protein, fiber and minerals.

Fruits contain vitamins, minerals, fiber, and water. Some of the fruits that Wisconsin farmers plant in their fields are cranberries that are famous for the juice they flavor, strawberries that provide a healthy, sweet, juicy snack in the summer, apples that also provide a good snack, and tart cherries for pies.

It is amazing to have learned that there are some farmers who raise fish which provide protein, shitake mushrooms giving good flavor, and ginseng, an ingredient in medicines. Two more interesting crops are horseradish from the mustard family providing good flavored mustard, and mint which is in many different medicines, teas and of course, ice cream. Anybody who lives in Wisconsin can be proud and happy to live in such a great place since it provides many different types of healthy food choices for them and the world.