Medford student is FFA Star
By Janet Kubat Willette
jkubat@agrinews.com
Date Modified: 05/27/2010 9:35 AM
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MEDFORD, Minn. — Kyle Bohrer may have never won the state FFA science fair, but he is the 2010 Minnesota FFA Star in Agri Science.
Bohrer, 17, a junior at Medford High School, placed second at the state science fair three years running.
"It's still a great experience," Bohrer said.
Bohrer did science fair research projects on whether bio-based plastic — those made from corn, soybean or milk-based products — can replace petroleum plastics. He's determined that plastic made from casein is especially comparable to petroleum plastic, with casein having the advantage of being biodegradable in soils.
He's also done a science project based on a six-week program he participated in last summer at the University of Iowa. He was one of 20 students from around the nation who participated in the hands-on program that put students in university labs for eight hours a day to do cutting-edge research.
"It was just awesome," Bohrer said.
His research assignment was to look at the nervous system of epileptic fruit flies to see what causes them to have seizures. He determined that there is a higher mutation rate in the touch organs of the epileptic fruit flies.
He was one of five people chosen to represent Minnesota at the Global Youth Institute in 2008. The event is hosted by the World Food Prize Foundation and held in Des Moines. At the Institute, he presented and discussed his paper on natural resource degradation in Togo, Africa. Togo is a country in western Africa with 6.7 million people highly dependent on agriculture, according to Wikipedia.
This summer, he's packing his bags for eight weeks in China. He was one of 16 high school students chosen to receive a Borlaug-Ruan International Internship. He's already reading materials his professor sent and he'll spend his time doing research on rice genetics at Peking University in Beijing.
The program was created to give students a firsthand view of food security issues and nutritional problems in poverty-stricken areas while taking part in ground-breaking field and laboratory-based research, according to the World Food Prize web site.
"I just love science," said Bohrer, who grew up watching Bill Nye the Science Guy. "I've always been curious about the world."
He whetted his appetite for world travel when he was still in elementary school. He took part in a two-week program where he was a student ambassador to Australia and New Zealand. Now, he's looking forward to learning about the culture, government and history of China and comparing it to the United States.
Bohrer has had worldly adventures and he's seen the bigger picture, said his FFA adviser and agricultural education teacher, Tim Larson.
"He's kind of like an independent runner of sorts," Larson said. "He's one of these rare kids, you say here's the opportunity and he'll run with it."
Bohrer has volunteered at River Bend Nature Center in Faribault since he was seventh or seventh grade. He received a national FFA grant two years ago to do an interactive display of animal track mounts to compliment the taxidermy mounts already on display at River Bend. He did mounts for 26 different animals.
Why did Bohrer join FFA?
"FFA is a cool thing here," he said.
More than half the students in the seven through 12 grade high school take ag classes, Larson said.
Bohrer joined with the perception that FFA was about production agriculture, but his advisers, Larson and Chris Ovrebo, encouraged him to pursue his interests through FFA.
He competed on the chapter's farm business management team in 2008, placed first individually in the food science and technology career development event in 2010 and competed in the job interview in 2009 and 2010. He placed third and second, respectively. He visited legislators at the state Capitol and served as a delegate to the National FFA Convention. He's also a member of the chapter's Envirothon team, which competed in the State Envirothon on May 17.
He served as the Region 7 parliamentarian in 2009-10 and will be the Region 7 vice president for 2010-11.
Bohrer will commute about five hours back to Minnesota to serve as a region officer. He is leaving high school this spring two credits shy of earning his diploma. He will attend Beloit College in Beloit, Wis., in the fall and earn the English and economics credits he needs to earn his diploma there. His goal is to pursue a career in international research.
He may also find his way to the National FFA Convention. He was named the state proficiency winner in emerging ag technology and his application will be submitted for national review. The top 10 are invited for interviews prior to the convention, Bohrer said.