Sitting at the awards ceremony for the largest international high school science fair in the world this May, Ferris High School students Teddy Osborne and Anders Thogerson were a bit disappointed as the judge read off the fourth-place winners for projects in environmental science.<\/p>\n
\u201cIf we got a fourth -place award, that\u2019d be sick, that\u2019d be awesome,\u201d Thogerson, 17, said of the moment. \u201cBut, like, I\u2019m just happy to be there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Third place was the same, the pair reflecting on the once-in-a-lifetime experience they had during the week in Phoenix, connecting with other young scientists from around the world.<\/p>\n
But when the announcer read out that their project, which explored seeds\u2019 susceptibility to smoke, placed second in the world for environmental science, the high school seniors \u201cdapped each other up\u201d in celebration.<\/p>\n
\u201cIt was crazy because we were on stage \u2013 like, we won the award. We walk up there. We did a little photo and then we got our medals and stuff, and then we walked back,\u201d Osborne, 18, said. \u201cAnd by the time I sat down, I looked at my phone, I had, like, 20 texts already.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI had people, like, trying to call me as I\u2019m sitting,\u201d Thogerson added. \u201cI\u2019m like, I can\u2019t enter a call right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair is one of the most prestigious research competitions in the world for high schoolers. In 2026, there were a total of 1,383 projects from students in 67 countries, all of whom first qualified through a regional fair. Thogerson and Osborne\u2019s project was the second from Eastern Washington to win an ISEF award in the fair\u2019s 76 -year history. They received a prize of $2,400.<\/p>\n
\u201cThese are just great young men who are kind to people, who are hardworking, who lift other people up. And to see them go all the way to the international science fair and get second in the world \u2013 it\u2019s just like, I\u2019m just so proud of them,\u201d Ferris Principal John O\u2019Dell said.<\/p>\n
The two students designed and executed a study that exposed hundreds of broccoli, wheat and rice seeds to smoke before comparing their germination successes to nonsmoked seeds. They found that the smoked seeds tended to experience slower germination and growth than nonsmoked, and smoked seeds had more cracks and deposits across their surface when viewed at a microscopic level.<\/p>\n
Seeing the summer wildfires across the Pacific Northwest gave the pair the idea for the project.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019ve had football practices in August completely canceled because you can\u2019t go outside because of the smoke, and everybody knows, living here, that it affects people,\u201d Osborne said. \u201cBut a lot of people don\u2019t really think about how it affects plants, and so we kinda wanted to explore that side of things.\u201d<\/p>\n
Agriculture and wildfires are both big features in the Eastern Washington region, Thogerson added, but when he and Osborne began looking into how smoke \u2013 not fire itself \u2013 impacted crop seeds, \u201cthere\u2019s pretty much no research or literature on it at all.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cThe early stages are always the most important,\u201d Osborne said. \u201cLike, you see in humans, like kids, the childhood. The seeds \u2013 it\u2019s no different. You know, that\u2019s what\u2019s setting up a good foundation for a healthy, solid plant that\u2019s going to yield and produce lots of food for people and farmers to make a profit.\u201d<\/p>\n
The project took Osborne and Thogerson the entire school year to research and put together as a part of their biomedical innovations class, taught by Darci Hastings.<\/p>\n
It was a natural decision to work together to tackle their question, despite Hastings\u2019 warning that such partnerships often result in strained friendships.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, me and Anders have been debating issues from, math problems to sports since, like, we were in first grade. That\u2019s nothing new,\u201d Osborne said. \u201cYou know, we do that every day, but we know it\u2019s out of fun, it\u2019s out of love. So it wasn\u2019t an issue when we got there either.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hastings, who has taught the course nearly half of her 26-year education career, said her role is to teach kids how to research and develop a project on their own.<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t be an expert every year in, you know, 25 different projects,\u201d she said. \u201cAnd so I view myself \u2013 and I told the kids \u2013 I am the project manager. I\u2019m making sure you\u2019re moving along at the pace that is gonna get you to the finish line, because they do have some hard deadlines that if they miss them, they don\u2019t get to participate. We don\u2019t want anyone in that situation.\u201d<\/p>\n
Though she had to leave the Arizona competition a day early to return to her family and work, Hastings was watching the awards ceremony on a YouTube livestream when the boys won.<\/p>\n
\u201cI was kind of freaking out, like screaming during my class,\u201d she said. \u201cI had my ninth-graders, and I was, like, shaking, and I was literally running up and down the hallway and telling everyone in the hallway that they had won.<\/p>\n
\u201cI told the kids I was smiling so hard I had to, like, push my face down.\u201d<\/p>\n