Willie and the Beanstalk Contest: A Tool for Undergraduate Recruitment and K-12 Education.

Similar to many universities, Kansas State University holds an annual open house.  The department of Agronomy wanted to use open house as a method to recruit undergraduate students, but we needed a way to attract potential students to our departmental display.  Therefore, we developed a contest for high school students across the state with the goal of attracting them to our departmental open house display and simultaneously exposing them to the science and technology in the field of Agronomy.  We organized the “Willie and the Beanstalk” contest to see who could grow the largest soybean plant in 40 days.  Entries were scored in 4 categories: documentation of cultural practices, height, wet biomass, and largest trifoliate.  Students enter in teams of 3 and must have an adviser that certifies the rules were followed.  The first contest was held in 2007 and had 45 teams register with 19 teams completing the contest.  The contest was repeated in 2008 with 70 teams registering and 53 teams completing the contest.  The contest has increased traffic and visibility of our department and we have increased our contact with potential students.  The contest has also increased contact with many of the high school teachers, making them aware of the field of Agronomy and its application to their courses.  We received positive feedback that the contest helped students learn about multiple aspects of crop production even if they did not have a farm background.