Aupperle, Callahan pick up Black Hawk East alumni awards
The past, present and future of the agriculture program at Black Hawk College East Campus were honored by the BHE Agri-Business Club Alumni at their annual meeting and banquet held recently at Midland Golf Club.
Professor Emeritus Eldon “Bud” Aupperle was selected for the 2022 Friends of the Alumni Award, 2006 BHE graduate now ag teacher and FFA advisor at Kewanee High School, Kindra Gradert Callahan, received the 2022 Outstanding Ag Alumni Award; and two students received scholarships. Blake Moeller, of West Point, Iowa, received the ACBA’s Freshman Spirit Scholarship, and Chase Howell, of Laura, Ill., received the Future Alumnus Scholarship.
Aupperle developed and taught ag courses at the East Campus from 1967-88, touching the lives of thousands of students. The first faculty member hired at the East Campus, he recruited the first ag faculty, Dan Hoge, Lanny Anderson and Jon Wolf, who would be the foundation of a nationally-recognized ag and equine programs. During his first year, he organized the Agri-Business Club and in 1972, started the Agri-Business Club Alumni. Aupperle said he started the Agri-Business Club because he felt there was a need for common ground where students with interests in different areas of agriculture could come together rather than compete with each other. Even after he retired from teaching, Aupperle continued to stay connected to the college through the ABCA. For 37 years, he was the group’s executive secretary, until retiring from that position in 2009.
In accepting the award, Aupperle said his goal from the start was to do something most junior colleges don’t — develop and prepare students for life beyond the classroom. To that end, he initiated a long-running class in the rules of etiquette taught first by the wife of the Wethersfield ag teacher, Mrs. Don Bitting. When she moved away, the class was turned over to etiquette expert and author Marjabelle Stewart, of Kewanee, garnering national attention for the unique ag program. Aupperle said the idea came from his early days as a salesman for farm chemical company W.R. Grace when he was passed over for a promotion, the reason given, his lack of proper table manners evident at a dinner for the candidates for the job. He said he has also found that BHE students and alumni are the best recruiters and, with it’s reputation, the college sells itself.
Kindra Callahan
Callahan said there hasn’t been more than three months in the past 22 years that she hasn’t set foot on the East Campus. A farmer’s daughter, student in Ron Alhorn’s ag classes and a member of the FFA chapter at Cambridge High School, Callahan was introduced to judging contests at BHE and when she was accepted to attend two four-year-colleges, she decided East was where she wanted to be.
“The BHE motto ‘Start here, go anywhere,’” is my story,” she said. “It was the very place and people who built my confidence and passion for BHE and learning,” said the daughter of a single father, Roger Gradert.
At BHE she met livestock judging team coach Dan Hoge and the man she would later marry, Aaron Callahan, professor of equestrian science, who both encouraged and challenged her. Acquiring an interest and considerable skill in horse judging, she competed with the 2005 National Champion Horse Judging Team. In 2006, she earned her Associates of Science in Agriculture and said, with the help of roommate and best friend Tanna Suits, she “got to truly become Kindra,” pointing out that “In your hometown, everyone knows you. At BHE I learned about myself and who I really was.”
Callahan now is employed in the Kewanee Community School District as the Agriculture Education Teacher and FFA Advisor. In 2021 she was named a Top 5 Agriculture Educator in Illinois and this summer was named the Illinois State Winner for the Teacher Turn the Key Award while the Kewanee FFA Chapter was recognized as a National Finalist for the National Chapter Award. Since returning to the area Kindra has served as a board member for the Black Hawk College East Ag Alumni and represented the Ag Alumni on the East Campus Foundation board. She also plays an active role helping her husband, Aaron, with developing the freshmen horse judging team at Black Hawk East.
Blake Moeller
Blake Moeller, recipient of the Freshman Spirit Scholarship, is involved in the Agri-Business Club and is a member of the livestock judging team. Upon graduation, he plans to transfer to Iowa State University and major in animal science with a minor in agronomy.
Chase Howell
Chase Howell, recipient of the Future Alumnus Scholarship, was a member of the Agri-Business Club, a student ambassador and member of the soil judging team where he was second highest individual at NACTA (North American Colleges and Teachers of Agriculture) national contest. He will continue his education in agronomy at the University of Wisconsin-Platteville.
This article originally appeared on Star Courier: Aupperle, Callahan pick up Black Hawk East alumni awards
