Cabbage earns Mississippi teen scholarship

JACKSON COUNTY, MS (WLOX) – Rayne Byron’s cabbage is a big deal. Literally.

“We planted it in a tire,” the East Central Upper Elementary student explained.

“And we just kept fertilizing it and watering it, and we just walked out there one day, and it was huge,” she said.

Huge is a good word to describe it. The average cabbage weighs between two and five pounds. Rayne’s cabbage weighs in at a whopping 23 pounds. She says she had no idea it would grow that large.

The massive cabbage has earned the East Central Upper Elementary student more than just bragging rights. She was selected as the state winner in the Bonnie Plants Cabbage Program, earning her a thousand dollar scholarship. Every year, the program delivers cabbage plants to third graders in 48 states with a challenge to see who can grow theirs the best and the biggest.

“It’s kind of a way to continue learning something outside the classroom. Get the students into something they don’t really all get to do that much anymore,” said Brant Railey, station manager for Bonnie Plants.

That’s a mission principal Jamie Wade can stand behind.

Even though her high school graduation is still a few years away, the fourth grader is already planning to put her check to good use by studying agriculture in college.

“I just love farming and animals and all that stuff,” she explained.

It sounds like the giant cabbage won’t be the last plant Rayne grows.