BRYANT -- On a bright spring morning in 2015, Abby Michels stood with her fellow high school seniors in front of the congregation at St. Wencel Catholic Church in Neva. They were being recognized for their pending graduation.
As she prepared to return to her seat, Fr. Jeremiah Worman told her to stay up front. He then announced that she had received the 2015 Rural Life Scholarship, a $500 stipend funded through Catholic Charities of the Green Bay Diocese.
That moment, standing before friends and neighbors from across the rural parish, cemented her future.
“I had no idea what was going on. I thought I was in trouble,” she said. “Then Fr. Worman said ‘we’re going to congratulate this young lady’. I was very excited.”
Nine years later, she is formally known as Dr. Michels, a large animal veterinarian with Wisconsin Dairy Veterinary Services based in Clintonville. From her home base in Bryant, she serves many of the same rural clientele who shared the news of that announcement.
“We are proud of Abby and all she has accomplished and happy to have been a small part of her overall success,” Karmen Lemke, director of Catholic Charities of the Diocese of Green Bay, said. “May God continue to bless her abundantly.”
A chapter of the National Catholic Rural Life Conference, Catholic Charities builds, celebrates, and promotes rural Catholic life through thriving families, farms, businesses, and parishes.
That vision will be honored on April 11, when Bishop David Ricken and Fr. Bill Brunner celebrate the diocese’s annual Rural Life Mass at Holy Trinity Catholic Church in Kiel. The 10 a.m. Mass will be followed by blessings of seeds and farm animals, lunch, and a presentation. Tickets are $17 and must be purchased by March 28. Stop at the parish office, call (920) 773-2380, or email [email protected].
A daughter of Keith and the late Cathy Michels, Dr. Michels grew up enmeshed in the rural lifestyle.
“I always loved cows, my mom loved cows and we even have black and white tile in our kitchen,” she said. “I couldn’t imagine being in a career that wasn’t involved with dairy.”
That love of agriculture was nurtured at St. Wencel. The parish was founded in 1897 by Catholic families tired of making the often-hour-long trek to Antigo to attend services and has retained its rural character.
“St. Wencel has always been very accommodating to farmers,” Dr. Michels said. “Mass times were designed to allow farmers to do their chores and still make it to church. Even today, I look in the pews and see farmers.”
While she always knew she wanted a career involving animals, she said she “truly decided” to pursue a veterinary degree while in high school.
“Vets in the area were kind enough to let me job-shadow them and that is where my passion grew,” Dr. Michels said. “There is a shortage of large-animal vets, and I knew it was something that would help the farmers in the area.”
She graduated in 2019 from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls and was accepted into the highly competitive University of Wisconsin School of Veterinary Medicine in Madison.
“It is a difficult school to get into and I was worried I wouldn’t make it,” she said. “But I learned you miss 100% of the shots that you don’t take. You always have to try.
“It was that way with the scholarship too,” she added. “You may think you’re not worthy, but other people know you are.” Today, a year after receiving her degree, Dr. Michels continues to give back to the community that supported her. Even after hours, she can be found in barns across the area, visiting with lifelong friends and checking on their livestock.
“I try to be as helpful as I can and go where I am needed,” she said. “I also do job-shadowing with students, trying to help the next generation of ag workers. This is a 24-hour a day job and you have to be passionate about dairy to do it.”
The Rural Life Scholarship is designed to provide financial aid for an aspiring student interested in serving in agriculture and/or rural life in their chosen profession. Selection is based on passion for agriculture, involvement within the parish, and leadership. The application can be found online at https://catholiccharitiesgb.org/scholarships. Submission deadline is April 1.
Dr. Michels said the award went far beyond its monetary value.
“I knew I had the support of the entire Green Bay Diocese and the rural community,” she said. “That was really, truly helpful and very appreciated.”