Three “Friends of Expo” were recognized at a special, fiesta-themed volunteer appreciation dinner on December 9, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. Nearly 200 volunteers gathered to acknowledge their contributions and celebrate a successful 2010 show. The 2010 honorees include: Dr. Roland “Doc” Jeans, DVM; Joan Judd and Corey Geiger.
Honored for their years of support and outstanding service to World Dairy Expo, these individuals were selected from among the nearly 400 volunteers who help run the cattle shows, commercial exhibits, youth contests, school tours and Purple Cow Gift Shop during the annual, five-day show.
Roland “Doc” Jeans was presented a Friend of Expo Award for his many years of service to the show. In the early 1960s, he and his colleagues developed an extremely successful and highly respected veterinary practice in Evansville, Wisconsin. After 37 years of working in the field, Jeans retired, but remained actively involved with local veterinary and dairy organizations as well as World Dairy Expo. Jeans has been instrumental during the past 20 years in the research and development of World Dairy Expo’s Code of Ethics. The Code of Ethics is a set of rules specific to the show’s cattle exhibitors.
Joan Judd owns and operates LaFollette Registered Holsteins with her husband, John, in Mount Horeb, Wisconsin, while working full-time at Gempler’s where she provides catalog customers with technical product support. Each year she takes a full week’s vacation to volunteer at World Dairy Expo. Judd is a familiar face to anyone seeking assistance in the show’s administrative office. During the week, she helps man the nerve center of the show. Over the years she has become adept at fielding questions from commercial and cattle exhibitors, while making copies, sending faxes, making name badges, answering the telephone and providing directions to individuals seeking the Dairy Cattle Office, Veterinary Office and International Lounge. Judd also plays a crucial role in the pageantry of World Dairy Expo’s Supreme Champion Parade, drafting scripts about each of the animals and their owners for the program’s master and mistress of ceremonies.
Corey Geiger has a long-standing relationship with World Dairy Expo. Associate Editor of Hoard’s Dairyman since 1995, he coordinates the publication’s coverage of World Dairy Expo before, during and after the show. As a youth, he successfully competed in the National 4-H and Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contests held at World Dairy Expo. He has served as a contest official and assistant superintendent of the National 4-H Dairy Judging Contest for more than a decade, and in 2009 was appointed to serve as the Superintendent of the National Intercollegiate Dairy Judging Contest. Geiger has also been instrumental in coordinating special awards, tours, and judging practice opportunities for all of the participating World Dairy Expo judging teams. An active member of the Dairy Shrine and former president of the organization, he carefully transfers the Klussendorf, MacKenzie and Merle Howard Awards from the Dairy Shrine Museum, located in Fort Atkinson, to Madison each year so they may be presented to the current recipients. Additionally, he writes the scripts and prepares the press releases for those award presentations. Geiger and his wife, Krista, reside in Mukwonago, Wisconsin.
Source: World Dairy Expo