UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — The Penn State Dairy Products Evaluation Team recently competed in the Collegiate Dairy Products Evaluation Contest in Milwaukee, placing high in several categories.

The team earned the following awards in the April 17 contest: First Place Butter, Third Place Cheddar Cheese and Third Place Cottage Cheese.

Team members included undergraduate students Grace Hwang, Ryland Curran and Fletcher Kanas and graduate students Ashley Ohstrom, Andy Paff, Auja Bywater (alternate) and Paige Sullivan (alternate). All are food science majors.

Individual awards won by team member included: Grace Hwang, second place, cottage cheese, and third place, butter; Rylan Curran, fifth place, butter; Fletcher Curran, fifth place, butter; Ashley Ohstrom, third place, butter, and fourth place, cottage cheese; and Andy Paff, first place in cheddar, third place in milk, third place in yogurt, fifth place in ice cream and third place in all products.

Kerry Kaylegian, associate research professor in the College of Agricultural Sciences, is coach of the Penn State Dairy Products Evaluation Team. She pointed out that there is a certain symmetry to Penn State’s triumph.

“The first contest in 1916 was butter only, and Penn State won that contest,” she said. “This means that Penn State won butter at the first contest and the 100th contest — how special to be able to bookend this contest with butter wins. By the way, in case anyone is trying to reconcile the math, there were a few years off for World War I, World War II and COVID-19.”

The National Collegiate Contest was held in conjunction with the Wisconsin Cheese Maker’s Association International Cheese Expo.