Biology Field Trip

This week, Laura Lee's Biology class took a trip to Corteva Agriscience to learn about genetic engineering. Students learned that Corteva focuses on mainly corn plants and research on Kauaʻi, while the production is held on Oʻahu. As we went through the facilities, students learned about the bar coding system of all the seeds. Then students had the opportunity to shuck a corn with the SQUID machine. We continued our tour at the Kekaha site and learned about harvesting embryos from corn. Each student had to suit up with safety gear (shoe coverings, lab coats, gloves, eye wear, hair nets and more eye shields) to harvest their corn embryos. After two weeks of isolated growing, the baby corn plants are planted in the shade house and students practice pollination with corn plants. Students also learned about the many career choices that are offered, from a geneticist to a plant harvester to a manager position. Mahalo to Corteva, Yael and Mark for hosting our students at their sites!