June 2011 Highlights « Back

Fuel Up to Play 60 in Oklahoma

There was plenty of laughter and cheering from students (and faculty) in the auditorium of Hamilton Middle School on Wednesday, May 25, for a Fuel Up to Play 60 celebration.  Joining in the fun were OU Football standout, Heisman Trophy winner and former Detroit Lions running back Billy Sims; local dairy producer Maria Chupp; and four key school administrators.  Billy Sims reminded the students to eat nutritious foods and get at least 60 minutes of exercise every day. He interacted with them by taking questions and sharing stories and laughs. Meanwhile, Maria Chupp shared her personal story of the farm, her family and what they do to stay healthy through nutritious foods such as low-fat and fat-free dairy and the activities they do as a family to stay fit.

The assembly activities also included a Billy Sims highlight film, a hula hoop contest, jump rope routines, Fuel Up to Play 60 cheers and awards for two years of outstanding Fuel Up to Play 60 leadership.  Hamilton Middle School won the 2009-10 Oklahoma state championship and was the leading scorer in Midwest Dairy Oklahoma region for 2010-11.  To wrap up the assembly, the student team and the VIPs were given chocolate milk donated by Borden Dairy of Tulsa. For the newspaper article in Tulsa World, you may visit http://bit.ly/kIdxNn.

Other Oklahoma Updates

Midwest Dairy recently helped settle a bet between Tulsa Channel Six Morning News personalities. Anchor LeAnn Taylor challenged the male anchor and weatherman for three straight weeks to see who is better at doing different tasks. Viewers voted weekly on the challenges, with the final task of milking a cow. The station asked Midwest Dairy to find a suitable venue for the contest and the anchors headed to the Chupps Guernsey Farm outside of Inola on the morning of the competition after the airing of the show.  After a crash course on proper hand-milking methods given by brothers Dale and Stanley Chupp, it was time to begin. The contest lasted only three minutes, but in the end Ms. Taylor fell short of beating the men.  After the contest the entire crew was given a tour of the dairy including watching the cows getting milked the modern way, by machine. In addition to having a great time, they learned a lot about dairy farming during their visit. The competition was aired on their morning show later that week. 

Kaylynn Million is one of the winners of an Ozarks Division Midwest Dairy Association $500 scholarship.  She is the daughter of Garry and Georgia Million of Tahlequah. A Tahlequah High School graduate, Million studies agribusiness at Northeastern State University.