Connecting classroom to family dairy

KELLOGG, Minn. — Substitute teacher Monica Evers brings dairy into classroom banter with students. These conversations have especially blossomed around the fact that she is a dairy princess.

“They’re asking those questions about dairy, like, ‘Oh, we knew you lived on a farm, but we didn’t know you loved it that much,’” Evers said. “Then, you just get to start the conversation.”

Now, Evers can add a new conversation starter to the list, a 90-pound butter likeness she will have sculpted of herself as a finalist for Princess Kay of the Milky Way.

“It is so cool to make the connections and talk about what I do as a dairy princess,” Evers said. “I love kids because they’re so curious; they want to know more.”

Evers, who is the daughter of Jerry and Tammy Evers, balances substitute teaching for four area schools with working on the multi-family farm, Evers Family Farms, which milks around 2,600 cows near Kellogg. Evers graduated from Winona State University in December 2024 with a degree in mathematics and secondary math education. She plans to substitute teach again in the fall.

“I found that you can have the best of both worlds,” Evers said. “I can enjoy being in the classroom, but I also really love being on the farm.”

In her preparations for competing to be a Princess Kay finalist, Evers asked her students what questions they had about the dairy industry. She received questions ranging from what raw milk is and whether it should be consumed to what robotic milking units are.

“You can say, ‘Oh, I think people would want to know this’ as much as you want,” Evers said. “But, being able to actually make that outreach and know the real-life questions that are out there about the dairy community is super cool.”

She said her ability to be adaptable, which was learned through leading in the classroom, is a skill she will bring to the Princess Kay program in situations such as media interviews to put her best self out while hitting her key points.

“As a teacher, you never know how your kids are going to be when they walk in the door,” Evers said. “You have to adapt.”

If she is crowned Princess Kay, her focus demographic will be youth.

“If we have very educated youth, … then they’re able to push that message forward too, whether they are directly on the farm or not,” Evers said.

She said the main messages she wants to share revolve around sustainability and innovation.

“Someone on the outside doesn’t necessarily think about the robotic milking and rotary parlors and virtual fencing, all these new and improved technologies,”
Evers said. “It’s not milking cows by hand.”

On the farm, Evers is part of a team of four family members in charge of mixing the total mixed ration. Feeding cattle has been more flexible for teaching than the calf care she used to do every day while commuting to college in Winona. Even though she does not feed calves as often currently, it remains her favorite task.

“Calf care is a place that you can sit and nurture,” Evers said. “I love the babies and the little zoomies that they get after they drink milk. It’s such a happy place to be.”

This summer she is working full time on the dairy.

“That’s why I went into education, to have that open summer,” Evers said. “That’ll be my commitment over the summer for the rest of my life.”

Evers has been part of the dairy community since childhood. One of her favorite memories growing up was fencing each spring with her dad. Once out in the woods, they would sit on a log together and take in the surroundings.

“You’re away from the busyness of everything,” Evers said. “It makes you really think about how much you love the life that you’re living, because I love how I grew up, and I love the farm, and I love my dad.”

When it comes to using her butter sculpture, Evers plans to share it with family and friends at their family’s Fourth of July fireworks watch party on a piece of land they own. Evers, who enjoys gardening and has five gardens where she raises 20 varieties of garden produce, plans to plant early sweet corn to enjoy at the picnic along with butter scraps from her sculpture.

Evers also hopes to display her sculpture at a local grocery store. Evers said the butter sculptures while displayed at the Minnesota State Fair bring people in to learn about dairy and create a domino effect of interest in dairy from Minnesotans, and beyond. Through the Princess Kay program, she can share her key messages of sustainability and innovation.

“They make them so unique that it reaches national audiences,” Evers said. “They’re able to see all of these different young women who are passionate about dairy and it can motivate them to look into the dairy community more in their own region.”