UW-River Falls hosts Professional Dairy Producers STRIDE Youth Leadership Conference
River Falls, Wis. – The University of Wisconsin-River Falls welcomed high school students from across the region for the 2025 PDP STRIDE™ Youth Leadership Conference Nov. 12. Now in its fourth year, the event - hosted annually in different locations by Professional Dairy Producers® - offered an interactive experience for students looking to develop leadership skills and explore opportunities in the dairy and agriculture industries.
45 students from Wisconsin and Minnesota attended the conference, which included a mixture of leadership development activities and hands-on labs.
Keynote speaker Michael Hoffman, founder of Igniting Performance, Inc., kicked off the day with an energetic session focused on helping students boost their confidence, strengthen communication skills and develop lasting leadership abilities.
Hoffman said many attendees have learned presentation skills through groups like FFA, but this training was a chance to dig deeper.
“We’re taking this opportunity to fill in the nooks and crannies of some of the communication skills we don’t think about as often,” Hoffman said. “Why it’s important for us to hold our hands a certain way, enter a room a certain way, handshake or make eye contact a certain way. I try to add a little bit of the psychology behind that, how to come across more confident and competent.”
Students visited UWRF’s Mann Valley Laboratory Farm to participate in lab activities. In one session, the students learned to measure a calf’s weight and height and compare them to a standard growth chart to evaluate the calf’s development.
Attendees participated in a career connections session - a fast-paced activity giving students one-on-one introductions to careers in agriculture, such as welding, veterinary care, nutrition, farming and more. They also had the opportunity to tour UW-River Falls and learn about undergraduate programs and student involvement opportunities.
Caylee Seedorf, a junior from Perham, Minn., plans to study animal science in college and eventually pursue a master’s degree. She learned about the conference from her FFA adviser and saw it as an opportunity to check out the UWRF campus and build on her skills.
“It’s been super interactive,” Seedorf said. “Normally, I don’t like to get out of my shell, but everyone is participating and it has been really fun.”
“PDP STRIDE grows with its students,” said Cassandra Strupp, program manager with Professional Dairy Producers. “Each year introduces fresh concepts that build on what they’ve already learned, allowing them to stretch their abilities and discover new possibilities.”
Photo: Alyssa Koehl from Walworth measures the height of a calf while Reghan Wierenga from Waupun holds its head up at the UW-River Falls Mann Valley Laboratory Farm on Wednesday, Nov. 12. The lab activity was part of the 2025 Professional Dairy Producers STRIDE Youth Leadership Conference, which drew 45 high school students from Wisconsin and Minnesota to the UWRF campus. UWRF photo.