Outstanding Ambassador Finds Purpose in the Field

Dec 10, 2024

By Madelyn Ostendorf

As a then-27-year-old non-traditional student trying college out again after a big move, Lia Schippers, a graduating senior in forestry, wasn’t sure what to expect at Iowa State University. After the traditional fall semester trip to the Rod & Connie French Conservation Education Camp, where she had the opportunity to bond with fellow second-year students, Schippers decided that she had found the right place.

“Conservation is such a small world, and everybody just seems to know everybody,” Schippers said. “It's cool to be in a field and at a school where people realize that your passion is important and conservation is important. It feels good to be in that type of major and field.”

Schippers is the fall 2024 recipient of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council Outstanding Ambassador of Agriculture and Life Sciences Award, recognizing individuals who have excelled at becoming leaders and communicators in agriculture. During her time at Iowa State, she has taken advantage of opportunities to immerse herself in the field of forestry and find what she is passionate about.

In addition to her classwork, Schippers worked as a member of AmeriCorps for Practical Farmers of Iowa, helping with field days and honing her ability to communicate with landowners and agronomists. She wrote an article focusing on the Iowa Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program wetlands. She enjoyed the experience so much that she wrote two additional blog posts, interviewing a beginning farmer and a farmer who had been a part of Practical Farmers of Iowa for a long time.

Schippers discovered that she had a love of communicating and a natural gift when it came to interacting with the public. When given the opportunity at the Soil and Water Conservation Conference, Schippers sat on a panel and discussed her father growing up and farming in Mexico and how that shaped her experiences growing up in Pennsylvania. She also hosted a podcast interviewing Iowa State alum Drake Larsen (’08 animal ecology, ‘11 MS sustainable agriculture) about his Canadian farm.

“Talking to people is great, and you get to hear all these stories,” Schippers said. “You get to hear about why people farm, why people build a legacy and what they want. I think that is what keeps me motivated to talk to people. You hear these stories of their hardships, or what they went through, and realize there's more to a farmer than corn and soybeans.”

In addition to her work outside of campus, Schippers is involved with the C-CHANGE Grass2Gas Project, serving as a Regen Ag Assistant to aid with the project’s grant organization, deliverables and event planning as needed.

Delaney Graef, senior in forestry and friend of Schippers, said her impact on the Department of Natural Resources and Ecology Management will not be forgotten as a research assistant or a friendly face.

“Lia has always gone out of her way to help students struggling with class content,” Graef wrote in her nomination letter. “She is the perfect candidate for outstanding ambassador. She tackles the difficulty of majoring in forestry, minoring in agronomy and working in research with the biggest smile on her face.”

Following graduation, Schippers has accepted a position as a Farm Bill biologist with Pheasants Forever in Austin, Minnesota. She advises her fellow students to embrace college, not take life too seriously and have an open mind.

“This is a really special moment in your life as a student, and there will never be another time where you get to do whatever you want like this,” Schippers said. “Right now is when you get to explore and gain experience outside of school.”

Source : iastate.edu

Video: Spring 2026 weather outlook for Wisconsin; What an early-arriving El Niño could mean

Northeast Wisconsin is a small corner of the world, but our weather is still affected by what happens across the globe.

That includes in the equatorial Pacific, where changes between El Niño and La Niña play a role in the weather here -- and boy, have there been some abrupt changes as of late.

El Niño and La Niña are the two phases of what is collectively known as the El Niño Southern Oscillation, or ENSO for short. These are the swings back and forth from unusually warm to unusually cold sea surface temperatures in the Pacific Ocean along the equator.

Since this past September, we have been in a weak La Niña, which means water temperatures near the Eastern Pacific equator have been cooler than usual. That's where we're at right now.

Even last fall, the long-term outlook suggested a return to neutral conditions by spring and potentially El Niño conditions by summer.

But there are some signs this may be happening faster than usual, which could accelerate the onset of El Niño.

Over the last few weeks, unusually strong bursts of westerly winds farther west in the Pacific -- where sea surface temperatures are warmer than average -- have been observed. There is a chance that this could accelerate the warming of those eastern Pacific waters and potentially push us into El Niño sooner than usual.

If we do enter El Nino by spring -- which we'll define as the period of March, April and May -- there are some long-term correlations with our weather here in Northeast Wisconsin.

Looking at a map of anomalously warm weather, most of the upper Great Lakes doesn't show a strong correlation, but in general, the northern tiers of the United States do tend to lean to that direction.

The stronger correlation is with precipitation. El Niño conditions in spring have historically come with a higher risk of very dry weather over that time frame, so this will definitely be a transition we'll have to watch closely as we move out of winter.