Ag Educators Honor Compeer

This year, the 2022 WAAE Organizational Relations Award was presented to Compeer Financial. The award was presented at the 2022 WAAE Professional Development Conference held earlier this summer in downtown La Crosse.

The Organizational Relations Award recognizes an organization that contributes to the overall success of WAAE. It recognizes positive service provided to WAAE on the state level for their dedication and contributions to agriculture and agricultural education through their funding and sponsorships as well as providing educational materials that are used extensively throughout the state. This year’s recipient was Compeer Financial and accepting the award was Melanie Olson and Karen Schieler.

Compeer Financial is one of the largest Farm Credit cooperatives in the Midwest, serving 144 counties throughout Wisconsin, Minnesota and Illinois. They pride themselves on collaborating with others who are dedicated to agriculture and rural America.

Compeer offers a variety of programs and services that directly benefit agricultural education programs, including their Agriculture Education and Community Building Grants. Students also have been impacted through Compeer’s collegiate scholarship programs and investments in County Fair Facility Grants. In 2021, Compeer’s Fund for Rural America awarded more than $540,000 to support groups, projects and grants committed to agricultural education, and assisted 23,366 educators to expose youth and young adults to agriculture.

“Naturally, we gravitate toward the contributions our supporters make to our local programs and students, but we shouldn’t forget the commitment Compeer Financial makes for us educators,” says Kathy Hartmann-Breunig, executive director of WAAE. “For several years now, Compeer has supported our Professional Development Conference because they know that when educators have the opportunity to expand their knowledge, the students ultimately will be the ones impacted by that knowledge.”

“We thank Compeer Financial for their partnership in education, their support and their dedication to agricultural education.”