Hays High School FFA Students Assemble Soil Science Boxes for National Distribution
Students from Hays High School’s Future Farmers of America (FFA) program recently participated in a project to pack educational boxes filled with soil science activities. The boxes, called “Fertilizer Fun Boxes,” will be sent to classrooms across the United States as part of an initiative by the nonprofit organization Nutrients for Life.
The completed boxes, filled with soil samples, testing kits, and curriculum materials, were prepared by the students in a dedicated packing area. Melissa Bigge, the curriculum director for Nutrients for Life, emphasized that the organization selected Hays High School FFA for this year’s packing effort.
This year, Nutrients for Life shipped 200 boxes, a significant increase from the approximately 40 boxes dispatched in the program’s early years. Since its launch in 2020, the initiative has seen a surge in interest, with over 1,600 requests for boxes submitted by teachers this year.
Bigge stated, “We fill as many as we possibly can,” highlighting the commitment to meet the growing demand for educational resources.
The boxes are sponsored by various fertilizer companies, some of which determine the specific classrooms that receive the kits. For example, one Ohio company funds 50 boxes annually, allowing its employees to send them to schools in their local communities.
Each Fertilizer Fun Box is designed to make soil science engaging and interactive. The contents include a soil test kit, probes, shovels, samples from ten different states, and an empty tube for students to collect soil from their own environments. The kits enable students to explore the relationship between soil health and food production.
In addition to standard resources, the boxes contain a unique educational item—a pair of underwear. This is part of an “undies challenge,” where students can bury the underwear in the soil and observe the level of decomposition after 60 to 90 days. Bigge explained that healthy soil will only leave the waistband intact, while unhealthy soil retains the entire piece.
This year’s distribution coincides with Global Fertilizer Day on October 13, which commemorates the invention of the Haber-Bosch process for synthesizing ammonia in 1908, a critical advancement in fertilizer production.
Bigge, who has been with Nutrients for Life for approximately 11 years, transitioned from advocating for educational resources in Kansas to developing curriculum materials for a national audience. Nikole Winter, the FFA adviser at Hays High, expressed pride in the students’ involvement, saying, “We’re happy that we can partner with them today and help with this effort.”
