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Student Spotlight: Summer Jobs Inspire Success
Raising pigs for the county fair. Repairing farm equipment. Hybridizing corn plants. These experiences have inspired sixth former Ben Debnam to take more challenging math and science classes at Woodberry — including the new Introduction to Engineering elective — and to study harder to prepare for college next year.
Ben’s family is involved in farming-related industries. His father is CIO of DuPont Pioneer, which develops seeds and forage additives for farmers around the world. His grandfather raises corn and soybeans on his 3,500-acre Maryland farm.
“I’ve always wondered how things work,” says Ben, who grew up helping his grandfather on the farm. As a 4-H member, he raised pigs to sell at the county fair. “They were a cross-breed between a Yorkshire and a Hampshire, commonly called a ‘blue butt’ because they’re white with bluish-colored bottoms.”
During the summer after his third-form year, Ben worked for Monsanto inoculating corn plant hybrids. “We placed latex bags over the corn cob shoots and paper bags over the tassels on the corn plants,” he explains. “When the tassels had produced enough pollen, we put the paper bags that had covered the tassels over the corn cob shoots, helping the plants to self-pollinate. The point was to check the viability of the hybrid.” The job was incredibly hot and tedious, and Ben worked alongside adults who had labored there for years.
“One day the heat index was 125 degrees,” he recalls. Ben knew that he didn’t want to spend his life working in the fields. He realized that studying hard and earning better grades would be his key to success. He buckled down, brought his grades up, and has already been accepted by several universities in Iowa and Colorado, where his family now lives.
One of the projects he undertook on his grandfather’s farm helped him decide on a college major. “I got an old 1953 Willy’s jeep running,” Ben says proudly, “so I plan to major in mechanical engineering.”
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Ben’s family is involved in farming-related industries. His father is CIO of DuPont Pioneer, which develops seeds and forage additives for farmers around the world. His grandfather raises corn and soybeans on his 3,500-acre Maryland farm.
“I’ve always wondered how things work,” says Ben, who grew up helping his grandfather on the farm. As a 4-H member, he raised pigs to sell at the county fair. “They were a cross-breed between a Yorkshire and a Hampshire, commonly called a ‘blue butt’ because they’re white with bluish-colored bottoms.”
During the summer after his third-form year, Ben worked for Monsanto inoculating corn plant hybrids. “We placed latex bags over the corn cob shoots and paper bags over the tassels on the corn plants,” he explains. “When the tassels had produced enough pollen, we put the paper bags that had covered the tassels over the corn cob shoots, helping the plants to self-pollinate. The point was to check the viability of the hybrid.” The job was incredibly hot and tedious, and Ben worked alongside adults who had labored there for years.
“One day the heat index was 125 degrees,” he recalls. Ben knew that he didn’t want to spend his life working in the fields. He realized that studying hard and earning better grades would be his key to success. He buckled down, brought his grades up, and has already been accepted by several universities in Iowa and Colorado, where his family now lives.
One of the projects he undertook on his grandfather’s farm helped him decide on a college major. “I got an old 1953 Willy’s jeep running,” Ben says proudly, “so I plan to major in mechanical engineering.”
Woodberry Forest School is an exceptional private school community for high school boys in grades nine through twelve. It is one of the top boarding schools in the United States and one of the only all-boys, all-boarding schools in the country.
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Woodberry Forest admits students of any race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, and national or ethnic origin to all of the rights, privileges, programs, and activities generally accorded or made available to students at the school. It does not discriminate on the basis of race, color, sexual orientation, disability, religious belief, or national or ethnic origin in the administration of its educational policies, admissions policies, scholarship and loan programs, and athletic or other school-administered programs. The school is authorized under federal law to enroll nonimmigrant students.