BES third grader grows 14lb cabbage
By Nathan Straus News Reporter

Brent and Glenn Miller

Bonnie Plants offers one yearly $1,000 scholarship to a third grade child in each state. To earn the scholarship the contestant must plant, grow and send a cabbage in. Nicole Adair, Brownsboro's third grade contestant, was the first area student to send in a cabbage.

Adair said she planted the cabbage at the end of last school year.

"The teacher told me before school ended," Adair said, "and said to plant it whenever we got the chance."

Nicole kept the cabbage healthy and growing till it reached fourteen pounds, when it was given to her third grade teacher, Jennifer Parker, to inspect.

Parker said all students' entries must be submitted by Sept. 10.

"I've just got to submit her form and a picture," Parker said.

The Brownsboro Independent School District, Parker said, has been a part of Bonnie Plants' scholarship program for only a few years. In that time, Adair isn't just the first area student to send in a cabbage; she's the only area student to send a cabbage.

"Every student in the grade level is given a cabbage and the student grows it. This is the first time in two or so years anyone finished a cabbage, " Parker said.

Parker also said Bonnie Plants initiated contact with BISD, as it did with schools around the country, and filled the students in on what to do.

Judy Adair, Nicole's grandmother, said she and Nicole thought it would be good to plant the cabbage and see what happened.

"It started folding back and really growing after the rains," Judy said.

Nicole Adair said the cabbage took a bit of time to grow to its full size.

"It took about nine to ten weeks for the cabbage to grow," Nicole said. "I think I'll win."

Parker said Nicole deserves to win the Texas scholarship.

"She's a wonderful student, very hard working," Parker said. "Everyone could use help with college."

Judy Adair said Nicole is a very good student, always willing to learn, and Bonnie Plants' scholarship was a little incentive for her to do something extra.

But the cabbage wasn't just a contest entry. It was also food.

"It wasn't a bad cabbage, either," Judy Adair said. "It tasted good, and we sliced it up and gave some to our neighbors because it was too much food for one family."