The Association of Women in Agriculture, otherwise known as AWA, is a professional, social and service organization for women involved in agriculture and life sciences at the UW-Madison.
This student organization holds professional development workshops, serves the community through service projects and holds alumni networking events.
“One of the requirements to be a member in good standing is to complete two service activities each semester,” said Abbey Wethal, LSC senior and AWA member. “This can range from helping at the Ronald McDonald house, donating food to the food pantry, sending holiday cards to the Children’s Hospital or helping a neighbor in need.”
Along with these activities, AWA member’s hosts breakfast on the farm. This is a family friendly event including breakfast, farm animals, farm equipment and educational displays to teach others about the importance of agriculture.
Part of AWA involves communicating the need for agriculture. Members have taken full advantage of classes taken through LSC and have applied them to the organization.
“Agriculture is incredibly important in our everyday lives as it provides us with food and clothing and AWA always seeks opportunities to spread the word of agriculture in our community,” explained Wethal.
With everything AWA participates in, their overall goal is to, “help its members prepare for a career in agriculture-related fields, to aid women in agriculture in achieving their goals, to improve communication among women in agriculture and for the betterment of agriculture,” said Wethal.
To members like Wethal, the best parts of joining AWA are the friends you make, the network connections gained and the shared passion for agriculture.
If you are interested in joining AWA, or learning more, you can visit their website at http://awamadison.org. This year breakfast on the farm is April 14th from 8 a.m. to 12 pm at the stock pavilion on Linden Dr. For more information on the event contact Julie Orth at jlorth@wisc.edu.
Article written by Lauren Etter, Undergraduate Digital Marketing Strategist. Photos taken by Bonnie Budde and edited by Jill Peters, Undergraduate Photographer.