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| Ohio student is finalist for Star of Agriscience honor |
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INDIANAPOLIS, Ind. — Although agriculture has always played a role in Laura Bruner’s life, the Wauseon, Ohio, resident was hesitant when her family urged her to join her local FFA chapter.
She wasn’t interested, but she gave into peer pressure and enrolled in agriculture classes her freshman year. Soon, she was captivated by agriscience fairs, and her interest in studying genetics could now win her top honors.
The National FFA Organization has named Bruner a 2008 American Star in Agriscience finalist; she will compete with other finalists at the 81st National FFA Convention, Oct. 22-25, in Indianapolis. Other finalists for the Star in Agriscience award are Robert Foertsch of North Dakota, Cameron Lange of California and Michael G. Biel of Wisconsin.
Each year at the national FFA convention, 16 national finalists (four per award) vie for the organization’s top awards: American Star Farmer, American Star in Agribusiness, American Star in Agricultural Placement and American Star in Agriscience. These awards honor students who have developed outstanding agricultural skills and competencies through their career development programs; demonstrated outstanding management skills; earned the American FFA Degree – the organization’s highest level of accomplishment; and met other agricultural education, scholastic and leadership requirements.
Each finalist will be interviewed by a panel of judges, who will ultimately name the top candidate in each area. The winner will be announced in an onstage convention ceremony and will receive a plaque and an award of $4,000. The runners-up will also receive plaques and $2,000 each.
Bruner’s agriscience research project began as a result of her interest in studying genetics. In 2002, she began working with genetics and marketability of Cucurbita pepo, a variety of squash.
Bruner believes it has the potential to help with world hunger in third-world countries, as it is cheap and easy to maintain and has high nutritional values. Along with research, Bruner began a job at Rupp Seeds, where she was able to inventory squash seeds, care for test plots and pollinated squash and soybean plants.
Bruner’s research with C. pepo ignited her passion for plants and genetics. She decided on a major in plant pathology at the The Ohio State University. While at school, she works in the Plant Cellular and Molecular Biology lab. It’s here where she’s realized that she can help create crops that will be commercially viable in the global economy.
“I hope to attend graduate school and obtain a PhD in plant genetics,” Bruner said. “I would like to use my education in third-world countries to teach people how to use agriculture to sustain themselves. I have come a long way from the high school freshman who did not want to be in FFA.
“I would not be where I am in my life or who I am today if I had not joined FFA. I have become both confident in who I am, my skills and abilities. I know what it is like to experience successes as well as failures.”
Bruner is the daughter of Daniel and Jo Bruner and is a member of the Pettisville FFA, where her advisor is John Poulson. Her supervised agricultural experience (SAE) program led her to apply for and earn the American FFA Degree, in which a student must earn and invest $7,500 or have earned and productively invested at least $1,500 and worked 2,250 hours in excess of scheduled class time.
An SAE program is one of three components that make up the agricultural education program. By combining the SAE career entrepreneurship or job placement component with classroom instruction from agricultural education instructors and leadership development from the FFA, students like Bruner are able to make a positive impact on their own and others’ lives.
Awards and recognition for Stars Over America finalists are made possible by the support of individual contributors to the National FFA Foundation. |
| 10/16/2008 |
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