Others first, always

Casey Droscha, ’09, has been a caretaker since kindergarten, tending calves and the family dairy herd. He’s served in that role on the CMU football team, growing the family’s maple syrup business, providing thousands of dairy farmers with critical data on their herds, and as a father.

Below is a glimpse of Casey’s motivation for helping others. It’s followed by bullet points of his life journey, including earning a Ph.D. and leading a research and development team.

'The farm taught me about life'

“I got here because of what the family dairy farm asked of me when I was young. It was just us kids, my uncles, my dad, my grandpa. As soon as you could carry a bucket, you could take care of young calves. At 5- or 6-years-old, I knew the comfort and health of the animals came first. If it was cold, I had to bust the ice out of the buckets and make sure everybody had water. I would not leave those calves until they were all comfortable and lying down. We milked 60 cows, morning and night. The farm taught me about life. It taught me to put others’ needs before my own.

“We were a struggling dairy farm in the '90s, and that motivated me to return to the dairy industry following my graduate studies. I’ve gravitated toward helping family farms trying to make it all work — giving them access to information, services and technologies that will help them keep the farm in the family.

“My life is about family and support of the local community. It’s about supporting food production through the dairy industry, Midwest dairy producers and our sixth-generation family farm. It’s been about coaching my hometown Mason High football team.

Family and community

“My values were instilled in me by my grandmother, Eileen (Droscha), who attended every CMU football game I ever played in. She was my greatest supporter and the one I didn’t want to let down. Because of her, quitting was not an option, whether it was dealing with a football injury, struggling through graduate school or starting a family business. 

“These days, it’s about instilling purpose and the value of simple things into my children, nephews and nieces. It’s also about surrounding myself with others in the community who share these ideals and want to provide a better future for our children.”

Impact and leadership

• Director of research and development at AntelBio, a division of CentralStar Cooperative, in East Lansing
  • The non-profit processes more than 6 million milk samples each year, providing U.S. dairy farmers with diagnostic data on the health of their herds
• Proprietor at Droscha Sugarbush of Mason
  • Worked with siblings to convert the dairy farm into a thriving maple syrup business, partnering with Cherry Republic and others
• CMU
  • Bachelor of science in biology (2009)
  • Football (2004-2008) — walk-on linebacker, converted to noseguard; defensive captain in 2008
• VanAndel Institute, 2010-2016
  • Ph.D., cell and molecular genetics
• Family
  • Wife, Shelby, and children, Charley (4), Sloan (2), Colin (1)
• Mason High School football
  • Linebacker, 2002-2003
  • Assistant coach, 2017-2023; helped lead team to its first state finals game in 2023

CMU Chippewa football

• Led Chippewa defense with 10 tackles in 2006 MAC championship game vs Ohio
• Lost to No. 2-ranked Georgia, but had five tackles and two hits on Bulldogs’ quarterback Matthew Stafford
• Fitted for a brace after tearing ACL against Western Michigan in senior season. Four weeks later, played against Ball State, broke his other leg and was carried off the field in his last-ever game. “I left it all on the field,” Casey said.
• Received the Kurt Dobronski Award, given to seniors who demonstrate great effort, intensity and appreciation for the CMU football program

Additional perspective on farmers

• “It’s important for us as citizens to acquire agency and autonomy through experiences like I had at CMU so we can support ourselves and our communities. Farmers are the foundation of this country, and I want to give them cutting-edge tools and resources to be more competitive, profitable and more stable.”
• “I like to make things, whether it’s a bottle of maple syrup or a molecular diagnostic assay that detects staph aureus in bovine milk. One is delicious on pancakes; the other checks to see if your cow is sick. Both contribute to the production of food and support the local economy.”

"Dr. Anna Monfils was my undergraduate research advisor. She took a chance on a football jock who wanted to do some research. She got me oriented to molecular biology and its applications. She didn’t have to do that, and I’m very thankful she took me in."