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San Antonio Livestock Exposition rewards five aspiring ag scientists

published: January 22nd 2010
by: Martha Hollida Garrett

Calling all Einsteins in-terested in agriculture. The San Antonio Livestock Exposition (SALE) rewards 4-H and FFA youth who are interested in science and agriculture with five $10,000 scholarships annually. The SALE Agricultural Science Fair contest allows members of all ages to use their knowledge of the sceintific methods with agricultural content in five divisions.
    Ashley Osbourn, SALE assistant livestock director explains, “There are five different divisions in the contest and each division winner receives a $10,000 scholarship. The divisions are 1) biochemistry/microbiology/food science 2) environmental sciences 3) zoology (animal science) 4) botany (plant/soil science)5) engineering (mechanical/agricultural engineering science).
    SALE patterned their ag science contest after that of the Texas FFA. Contestants are required to do research or carry out an experiment, write an abstract and research paper, prepare a presentation that shows their project and the reseach process, plus be interviewed by judges at the actual contest. This is the third year for the contest to stand alone, as prior to that it was part of the Ag Mech division at SALE.
    Lorie Kempen, an agricultural science teacher at San Antonio’s East Central High School is a strong proponent of the contest, as well as that of the FFA. She has had students win the SALE and Texas FFA contests and this past October her state FFA winning team placed second at the National FFA contest.
    “East Central is a big advocate of the ag science fair education process. Win or lose, students learn how to conduct research, understand how to collect and interpret data and recognize valuable data. Also they learn how to write an abstract and a research paper, present their findings and communicate their project and its findings to an audience,” explains Kempen, adding that writing the research paper is one of most difficult parts usually, as students have never written in this format.
    She goes onto add that the students meet experts in the field of science as they work on their projects and through the actual judging process.
    “I’ve had students meet professors from Rice, Texas A&M and University of Texas Health Center, as they have conducted their research and searched for project ideas,” said Kempen.
    This year East Central has three projects competing at the San Antonio contest in the areas of zooloogy, biochemistry/microbiology/food science and botany.
    Russell Thomas, an agricultural science teacher with Gilmer High School in northeast Texas will also bring three students to this year’s contest.
    Thomas also feels the contest teaches youth about scientific methods, how to conduct research, write papers and communicate.
    “This contest is very helpful for any student, but for those who plan to continue their education in a science based field, it is extremely valuable,” says Thomas.
    Gilmer has also experienced success in the contest as their school has won two $10,000 scholarships. Thomas’ own daughter, Shelby, won with a project over Bob White Quail and the effects of predators on their nests. Gilmer FFA student, Brittany Hicks, won with a project that compared the growth of Lob Lolly pine to Long Leaf Pine.
    Both teachers say the amount of time varies with the actual project as some research requires more work, but that to be competitive at the state level, a contestant must be willing to commit lots of hours to each portion of the contest.
    “We try to do our research in the summer if at all possible, but again that depends on what the project is. The quail project required that all the research be done in a six week period as the eggs were being hatched. It took about two hours a day to check the nests and record the findings,” explained Thomas, adding that the growth of the the different varieties of Pine Trees was spaced over a six month period.
    Kempen adds that she had students conduct the research two or three times on certain types of projects to further validate their results.   
    Hamilton County 4-H member, Shelby Rogers, competed in the 2009 SALE contest  with re-search regarding bull fertility.
    “My project was called, “Curly Fertile.”  I evaluated the hair on the heads of Hereford bulls to determine if the hair was straight or curly and if that was an indicator of fertility. I travelled to various Hereford ranches, looked at the hair on the bulls’ heads and documented whether it was straight or curly. Then I researched each bull’s fertility test and assembled my data.  My research clearly indicated that bulls with curly hair on their heads were more fertile,” described Rogers.
    She evaluated over 200 bulls and said the contest also provided a forum for her to discuss and promote the Hereford breed.
    One of the East Central contestants this year is Amber Kerns. She will be bringing a project that won the State FFA contest and finished second at the National FFA Contest.
    “In FFA, we compete as teams, so my team member Cristi Schick competed at the State Fair of Texas Ag Science Fair with it and now I’m bringing it to San Antonio. Next year we will compete at the opposite contests,” said Kerns
    Thier project measured the amounts of vitamin C found in different kinds of oranges.
    When asked how they decided on this project, Schrick explained that they both liked orange juice and were concerned about the healthiness of their skin. They learned that vitamin C was very important in rebuilding skin cells and that led to their project.
    “Doing the actual research of extracting the juice from the oranges and running the experiments to find the amount of  vitamin C was my favorite part of the project, “ explains Schick,  while Kerns  said doing the actual presentation before the judges and handling the interview was her favorite part. They both agreed that the hardest part was writing the paper and learning how to make it read scientific.
    The girls, who are just sophomores, plan to continue doing science fair projects in FFA and at the Sate Fair and San Antonio. They will work as a team for the FFA ones and as individuals for the the other stock shows.
    “We have already found ways to vary our project for next year and will be conducting additonal experiments related to Vitamin C and oranges” said Kerns.
    “It was really exciting to compete at the National FFA Contest and to see the projects from across the country. It gave us lots of ideas, we had fun, and we learned a lot by competing at that level,” explains Schick.
    In addition to the Science Fair, Schick will exhibit a steer, breeding heifer, and market hog at SALE, while Kerns will exhibit in the breeding and market hog shows.
    “The science fair contest allows to take some of the brightest minds and teach them how to do research and conduct scientific experiments and then reward them,” says Kempen.
    Thomas adds that this contest allows for students who may have not have the resources for an animal project to have a Supervised Agriculture Experience through the FFA and combines lots of area of academics with an interest in agriculture.
    SALE agrees and wants to do their part to prepare the next generation of ag researchers and developers.  By awarding five $10,000 scholarships annually, SALE is helping to pay for some of the young Einsteins to attend college and prepare for science based careers in agriculture. The 2010 Ag Science Fair will be February 6th and is open to the public following the judging.
SLS