Sarah Schumacher isn’t afraid of the big, bad wolf.
In fact, he’d be welcome to huff and puff at the straw house in the 8th-grade science project that gained national recognition for the 14-year-old high school freshman.
The project, which demonstrated the strength of Wheatboard, a building material made of wheat straw, won an outstanding rating at the state competition in Champaign last year. It also was one of 12 projects exhibited earlier this month at the annual national meeting of American Agri-Women, a 25-year-old organization dedicated to spurring young people’s interest in agriculture.
Linda Swiercinsky, an American Agri-Women member from Mokena, said members attending the Kalamazoo, Mich., meeting were impressed by the scientific and agricultural knowledge demonstrated by such a young student.
Inspired by a magazine article about straw-based building materials, Schumacher got some samples from a North Dakota company that manufactures Wheatboard and tested its ability to withstand pressure and moisture.
“I didn’t really know what to expect,” she said. “Usually, you know, you think of wheat and it’s kind of flimsy.”
But the test results she graphed on the family’s home computer showed the 96 percent straw product was stronger than either particle board or plywood.
Compressing the wheat straw probably made the board dense and strong, she said.
Experiments like Schumacher’s are just the kind of work American Agri-Women want to encourage, said Jean Ibendahl, special projects director for the group.
“We have so many products now made of crops that grow,” said Ibendahl, who traveled from Tamaroa, Ill., to pick up Schumacher’s exhibit and bring it to the Michigan convention. “There’s much more to agriculture than production. . . . There’s hundreds of things out there to be experienced.”
For Sarah Schumacher, science isn’t just school work. It’s fun.
“I love science,” she said. “I’ve always been doing little weird (experiments). I love finding out how things work and new uses. (Science) is never the same thing.”
Her fascination with science doesn’t crowd out other interests. She loves sports, especially gymnastics, and she’s a member of the choir and the mathletes group at Lincoln-Way High School, where she’s enrolled in honors classes.
Whatever career she decides on will probably have a scientific slant. “I’m not sure if I want to be a scientist or a doctor or something with animals,” she said.
