Wisconsin Dairy Athlete of the Month
By Casey Krautkramer
Edgar senior three-sport student athlete Emery Borchardt is being recognized as the Wisconsin Dairy Athlete of the Month in January. The award is sponsored by the Wisconsin Sports Network and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin and honors Borchardt for her balance of athletics, academics and farm work.
Borchardt maintains a cumulative 3.97 GPA at Edgar High School. She is a captain on the Edgar varsity volleyball, girls basketball and softball teams. She is also a member of the Edgar High School FFA (Future Farmers of America), Student Council, FCCLA (Family, Career and Community Leaders of America) and National Honor Society.
During the school year, she does barn chores in the mornings and nights on her parents Jason and Penny Borchardt’s town of Wien dairy farm. Her responsibilities include cleaning out the cow pens, feeding the cows and helping milk their 45 dairy cows. She picks rocks and bales hay in the summer.
Emery Borchardt explains how working on the family farm has helped with her academics and athletics too.
“I think working on the farm has helped me by showing up and doing what I am asked to do,” she said. “It definitely helped me develop a strong work ethic.”
Jason Borchardt became a fifth generation owner of the family farm in 1989. The farm started on Jan. 2, 1870, when Johann and Albertine Borchardt purchased 40 acres from the U.S. Government for one dollar. The pioneers came to central Wisconsin from Pomerania, the region sandwiched between Poland and Germany.
Emery Borchardt is proud to help out on her family’s sesquicentennial farm that has been in operation for 155 years.
“I think it’s definitely cool that our farm keeps going when a lot of other farms have recently shut down,” she said.
Her older sister, Reagan Borchardt, also helps on the farm when she is home from attending college at UW-River Falls. Emery Borchardt plans to study dental hygiene next fall at Northcentral Technical College in Wausau after she graduates from Edgar High School this spring. For now, she is happy to be honored as the Dairy Athlete of the Month in January by the Wisconsin Sports Network and Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin.
“It feels good,” Emery Borchardt said. “I think it’s cool that I am getting recognized for something that I’m already doing in life, knowing that I am one of the few dairy farmers still around.”
HELPING HER TEAM BEAT THE ROCKETS - Edgar senior guard Emery Borchardt drives the basketball toward the hoop during the second half of her team’s 66-53 non-conference home win against Spencer on Dec. 23.
STAFF PHOTO/CASEY KRAUTKRAMER
TAKING A BREAK FROM BARN CHORES - Emery Borchardt is pictured in the family’s town of Wien dairy barn with her two Australian Shepherd mix dogs Charlie and Sammy.
PHOTO SUBMITTED
