MOUNT GREENWOOD — Madeline Poole hopes to shake the hand of Barack Obama or perhaps snap a selfie with the 44th President of the United States this summer.
Poole, 18, is one of just 160 students nationwide to be named a U.S. Presidential Scholar. The senior at the Chicago High School for Agricultural Sciences will visit Washington, D.C. on an expense-paid trip from June 19-21.
The president typically greets the scholars, who receive a special medallion at the White House. These high school students have historically been recognized for outstanding achievement in academics, merit and the arts, said Poole, a Beverly resident.
This year, 20 more names were added to the list to honor students with exemplary effort in the field of career and technical education. Poole, a graduate of Sutherland Elementary School, is among the first to be honored in this new category.
"I think it's the research I've done," Poole said Thursday when asked why she believes she received the award.
Poole — who is also valedictorian of her graduating class — has been busy exploring the scientific aspects of agriculture throughout her tenure at the school at 3857 W. 111th St. in Mount Greenwood.
A visit to Jalna, India is among the highlights of her high school research. There she studied rice seeds and bacteria for Mahyco, a hybrid seed company.
Poole was among a team that sought to improve rice production in India by studying the natural bacteria that helps plants like weeds and native grasses thrive along the roadside. These plants grow without frequent watering or fertilizer.
Poole's team helped to isolate the bacteria that benefits such wild plants and then soaked rice seeds in it. The results were impressive and led to another finding about local rice production efforts.
"Basically, farmers are using way to much fertilizer in the soil," Poole said.
She added that unlike the natural bacteria, chemical fertilizers now used in India boost crop production only temporarily. The long-term affects include leaching the soil of important nutrients.
Two days after returning from India, Poole visited Japan as part of a cultural exchange program.
She's also studied biofuels while at the Ag School, comparing canola, corn and soybean oil for a science fair project that sought to determine which is the best energy source. Canola, a flowering plant commonly grown in Canada, came out on top, Poole said.
In summer 2015, Poole also spent seven weeks at the University of Illinois in Urbana-Champaign studying hot water that goes down the drain when taking a shower.
Poole's group sought to develop a heat exchange system that would recapture some of that heat to warm up water for the next shower.
Besides research, Poole also rarely passes an opportunity to be involved in school programs, Ag School principal Bill Hook said.
She's president of the school's FFA or Future Farmers of America chapter, worked as part of team to bring a new community garden to Robert H. Metcalfe Community Academy in West Pullman last month and packed backpacks filled with needed supplies for homeless men and women in Chicago last year.
Poole plans to attend the U of I next year to further study agriculture and biological engineering. Unfortunately, her latest award doesn't provide any financial assistance, but her previous research projects should give her a leg up as she's already met many of her professors.
Hook is confident Poole will succeed both at the university and beyond.
"You could not ask for a more complete student," he said.
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