MGS 4th Grade Enter Contest
by Deb Brubaker
May 10, 2010
Fourth graders from Minneapolis Grade School participated in the 3rd annual "Willie and the Beanstalk" contest sponsored by K-State Agronomy. The students were challenged to grow the largest soybean plant in a 47 day time span and document their activity.
Seeds for the project were donated by Sheldon Daugherty, a Pioneer Sales Representative. Ottawa County Farm Bureau provided the students with soil, pots and presentations. Clara Mull and Denise Fuller assisted the students on planting day. On March 8th students, working in teams of 3’s, chose a name for their group, type of seed, and soil/rooting medium. The students then planted two pots of soybeans. Each team then had to select a location for their plants. During the 47 days the teams had to make decisions on whether to fertilize, what kind of fertilizer, how often, amount of water and how often to water. During this time they had to record the care of their plants and measure their growth.
The week of April 12 students had to complete all of the documentation paper work and choose the best plant to represent their team in the judging contest at K-State on April 24. Clara Mull and Denise Fuller returned to MGS on April 22 to show a DVD on soybeans and provide the students with a soybean treat. They then took the student's plants to K-State for judging.
Student’s entries were judged on 5 criteria:
1. Cultural practices documentation
2. Plant height
3. Plant mass
4. Leaf area of the largest trifoliate leaf
5. Leaf greenness of the largest trifoliate
Forty-eight teams brought their plants to be judged. Each team member received a t-shirt, certificate and pen. Winning 6th place from MGS were the Stringbeans with team members Trenton Brubaker, Keagon Williamson, and Erich Henriksen. They had an overall score of 47 points.
Placing 8th were the Tractor Lovers: Chase Donovan, Zach Meyer, and Katie Thrush with an overall score of 68 points. In 10th place was the Human Beans team members Courtney Walker, Bridget Lott and Kaylee Lowe with an overall score of 76 points.
11th place - KU - Jacob Eck, Connor Zuspann, Nick Davis 76 pts.
12th place - Bean Machines - Ashley Garbin, Heidi Haynes, Courtney Rael 77 pts.
15th place - Ring of Fire II - Tessa Copple, Taton Smith, Triana Reed 82 pts.
16th place - Jolly Planters - Isaac Root, Quinn Egbarts, Zoey Rankin 85 pts.
17th place - Beanheads - Ethan Mull, Wayne Ruble, Aaron Cleveland – 86 pts.
19th place - New Moon - Leeann Johnson, Lauren Gragg, Jordan Bell – 94 pts.
20th place - Beanie Babies - Kerrigan Kelly, Chelesea Cole, Alexix Wilson – 98 pts.
