A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
A hometown newspaper with a local office, local owners & lots of local news
County fair projects set a professional course in geology
Kent Syverson did a study on volcanoes for the Barnum Bees 4-H group in 1980, inspired by the eruption of Mount St. Helens in Washington months earlier. His Carlton County Fair project, and more after, went on to the Minnesota State Fair. The 1982 Barnum graduate said 4-H was critical in setting a course for his professional life in geology.
Kent Syverson’s mind was blown when Mount St. Helens blew its top in 1980. The famous eruption of the long-dormant volcano in Washington scratched a geology itch in the Barnum student’s brain.
“I was always interested in rocks and the outdoors,” he said this month. The historic event led to a 4-H project on volcanoes, which eventually won ribbons at the local Carlton County Fair and then the Minnesota State Fair.
Today, Syverson is a well-traveled geology professor at the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire, a position he would have never dreamed of if not for his participation in Barnum Bees....
