For a group of middle school students in Kewaunee County, Wis., the first week of summer starts at Pagels Ponderosa Dairy.
Instead of easing into the break, they spend four days moving through the farm’s dairy, crop, technology and animal-care spaces as part of a summer school program built around hands-on learning.
By the time they leave, students have taken apart engines, explored drones, learned how rations are built and have spent time with cows and calves.
The four-day boot camp, launched eight years ago by Pagels Ponderosa Dairy, gives middle school students a closer look at dairy production, crop management, technology and the careers connected to agriculture.
“It was started by our second-generation owner, John Pagel, and a team of individuals from our farm,” says Kylie Pagel, farm marketing advisor and HR representative at Pagels Ponderosa. “We wanted to build off what the county was already doing and give students more time, more experiences and a deeper look at what a career in agriculture can be.”
From Career Day to Hands-on Experience
The idea for the boot camp grew from Kewaunee County Economic Development Corporation’s Ag Career Days, an annual event introducing seventh and eighth graders to local agriculture through short rotations at a host farm.
“At that event, everybody learns about some different type of agriculture through eight different rotation stations,” Pagel explains. “But the groups are only about 20 minutes at each station.”
The Pagels team saw the value in the event, but also recognized students needed more time to explore the opportunities available in ag.
“We wanted to take what was offered at Ag Career Days, but put it on a larger scale,” Pagel says. “We wanted to get kids a hands-on look at these different jobs they’re learning about and give them more information than what can be offered in 20 minutes.”
The first boot camp was designed for seventh graders, but over time, the program expanded to include a wider range of middle school students.
“We kind of piggybacked off of the Ag Career Days and started the boot camp for seventh-grade age students at the time,” Pagel says. “It has now grown into a basis of 11 to 13 years old, so it’s a larger spread of the middle school age.”
A Summer Classroom on the Dairy
The boot camp operates as a summer school program, creating an opportunity for students to learn outside the traditional classroom while still connecting with school-aged peers.
“It originally started within the Kewaunee School District as part of the summer school program, and we have grown it from there,” Pagel says. “It’s hosted the first week students are out of school, hoping to get that in-between of traditional school ending and summer activities starting.”
The timing also lines up with June Dairy Month, giving students a chance to experience dairy production during one of the industry’s biggest outreach periods.
Finding the right schedule took some trial and error. The program has moved between three, four and five-day formats before landing on its current four-day structure.
“It has been anything from a three-day event to a five-day,” Pagel says. “We’ve just taken what we felt worked best. The first year, I believe we were at four days, and then based on how it went, we brought things down to three. Then we realized, ‘Oh wait, we need more time.’ So, we went back up to five, and in the past two or three years, we have taken the fifth day off and made the fourth day longer.”
Today, students spend Monday through Wednesday at the dairy from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. Thursday runs until 6 p.m., wrapping up with a graduation celebration for students and their families.
Growing From 20 Campers to a Waiting List
When the boot camp first started, the group was small.
“The first year, I think we had between 20 to 25 kids,” Pagel says.
As the program expanded, interest continued to grow, with more families hearing about the experience.
“Slowly after we started, the head count kept coming up and up and up,” Pagel explains. “We’ve gotten to the point where we have waiting lists, and we are fully booked out across our boot camp.”
The growth has pushed the farm allow up to 40 students to participate each year. Even with the expanded capacity, demand remains strong.
“This past year, our waiting list was seven to eight students long,” Pagel says.
Students travel from across Kewaunee County and surrounding areas to participate. Some families are even willing to make the drive from farther away.
“If the parents are willing to drive them, we’ve had kids come up from the Madison area,” Pagel says.
Each group brings a different level of agricultural experience. Some students arrive already familiar with farm life, while others are seeing livestock up close for the first time.
“It’s always a toss-up,” Pagel says. “Some come in and have a background. Some come in and the only time they’ve seen a cow is when driving past farms. I’d say depending on the year, it’s probably about 50-50.”
From Strangers to Teammates
Once students arrive at Pagels Ponderosa, the goal is to move them from observers to participants.
The first day focuses on helping students feel comfortable, build relationships and understand how their individual strengths fit into a team.
“We try to set them up to get as many different hands-on experiences as possible,” Pagel says. “Day one, the kids come in and they’re a little timid.”
To help break the ice, the camp starts with team-building activities. Students learn more about communication, teamwork and how different personalities work together.
“They kick things off on the first day with activities focused on teamwork. Students learn what their personality traits say about them and how to work with people who have different personalities,” Pagel says.
After introductions, students begin exploring the dairy. A tour through the milking parlor gives them a first look at the size and coordination required to care for cows every day.
Beyond the Barn
Over the next several days, students rotate through different areas of the operation, gaining a look at the many careers connected to agriculture:
- Farm shop: Students work alongside members of the maintenance team to learn how mechanical skills keep a dairy running. “They work with a few members of our shop team on learning how to take apart and put together engines in teams and use different types of tools,” Pagel explains.
- Agronomy: Students learn how crops move from the field into the feedbunk as an agronomist walks them through soil health, crop management and decisions made throughout the growing season.
- Nutrition: A nutritionist explains how rations are built and how different ingredients work together to support cow health and milk production.
- Veterinary care: Students get another perspective on animal health. “We have multiple vets that have actually come on,” Pagel says. “One had taught them all about maternity, and they got to see a cannulated cow.”
- Meat and dairy products: A butcher explains different cuts of meat and what happens when animals leave the farm, while a cheesemaker walks students through the cheesemaking process. The students even create their own flavored cheese curds. “We have a cheese maker come in to talk about cheese making, and the kids get to flavor their own cheese curds,” Pagel says.
- Agriculture beyond dairy: A local Christmas tree farmer introduces students to another type of farm business and helps broaden their understanding of opportunities within ag.
- Calf ranch: Students spend a full day at Pagels Ponderosa’s calf ranch for a closer look at the earliest stages of dairy production, from calf care to health management. “Kids get to spend a whole day up at our calf ranch and hang out with the calves,” Pagel says.
- Ultrasound activity: This past year, students worked with a veterinarian on an ultrasound activity using balloons. “They got to do an ultrasound activity with balloons and stuff, and using the ultrasound to see what is in each balloon that’s blown up,” Pagel explains. The activity brings veterinary technology to life while showing students how science is used every day on farms.
Bringing Technology to the Classroom
Technology has become one of the most popular parts of the boot camp as students see how agriculture continues to evolve.
“We have a whole technology day where we have people come out who have different types of technology within the agriculture industry,” Pagel says.
Students explore tools such as field drones, hydroponics, cow monitoring systems and precision equipment.
“We have CowManager and John Deere come out to teach kids about the different forms of tech,” she says.
The technology lineup changes as new tools become available.
“We have some of the same people come back, but we are also looking for different things,” Pagel says. “We try to keep things evolving as we go, so they’re not doing the same exact thing one year after another.”
Drones, for example, were added to the program more recently as the technology became more common.
Sending Students Home Prepared
Beyond the experiences, Pagels Ponderosa provides students with the equipment they need to participate safely.
“We supply each student with a pair of rubber boots, high-vis safety shirts and any safety PPE they’ll need throughout the week, and all of that they get to take home with them,” Pagel says.
Those boots often become a reminder of the experience after camp ends.
From Camper to Diesel Mechanic
Not every student who rolls into boot camp arrives with a farm background. Some only know cows from the car window. But for at least one camper, those four days on the farm opened the door to a career.
“Our second year that we did boot camp, we had a boot camper come on, and then he would later on down the line become our youth apprentice student through our local high school,” Pagel says. “After graduation he’s a full-time employee now, where his family did not have a farm growing up, but he knew he liked what was happening in the industry and wanted to get involved.”
Today, that former camper works on the equipment side of the business.
“He is a diesel mechanic,” Pagel says.
For her, watching that journey—from a 12-year-old middle schooler figuring out how he fit into agriculture to a full-time member of the team—is exactly why the program exists.
“It’s been a while since he was a 12-year-old boy at boot camp,” she says, “but he’s now fully employed by us.”
For many students, boot camp is their first opportunity to see how many careers exist within agriculture. By the end of the week, they leave with more than farm knowledge. They leave with a better understanding of where they might fit into the industry.
Seeing the Bigger Picture
For Pagel, the strongest measure of the program comes in watching students change over the course of the week.
“You can see the difference in the kids from the beginning to the end of the week,” she says. “They come in quiet and unsure because they don’t know anyone or what to expect. By the time they leave, they’re full of confidence, they’ve made lifelong friends and they have a new appreciation for what we do. Watching that transformation is one of the best parts.”
That shift is paired with a broader understanding of how food moves from farm to table.
“Students get to follow the journey from calf to heifer to cow, then watch cows being milked and cheese being made,” Pagel says. “They see exactly where their food comes from. Watching everything click and seeing that light bulb go off when they say, ‘Oh, this makes sense!’ is so rewarding.”
After four days on the farm, the hope is that students leave with more than a memory from the first week of summer. They leave with a clearer view of the people, skills and careers behind agriculture — and a better sense of where their own interests could lead.
