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Going places: Fort Frye junior follows ambitions

Fort Frye junior follows ambitions

By Kristen Hainkel 3 min read

BEVERLY -- Maggie Fulton, a junior at Fort Frye School, said her love of agriculture science took her to the Caribbean this summer.

Fulton, 16, was one of 22 students selected for the United States Department of Agriculture AgDiscovery Camp at the University of the Virgin Islands. She discovered the camp online in December and decided to apply.

"I wrote an essay about why I wanted to attend the camp and talked about previous camps I had attended," she said.

The camp took place from July 16-29. Fulton said she was nervous when she arrived.

"It was scary and a culture shock. I got used to meeting new people. I was the only one from Ohio. One person was from Puerto Rico and others were from Massachusetts," she said.

However, as the camp progressed, Fulton became more comfortable and made friends with her fellow campers.

"By the time it ended, I didn't want to leave," she said.

Campers attended classes taught by USDA experts. Subjects included animal science, veterinary medicine, aquaponics, horticulture, biotechnology, and agribusiness.

Fulton said she had two favorite memories from the camp. The first was taking an evening kayak tour to look at bioluminescent organisms on the bay. A chemical reaction causes the marine organisms to glow. The second is watching sea turtle eggs hatch on the beach. Soon after, the baby turtles crawl across the sand into the ocean.

"They didn't let us take pictures of the turtles, which I was sad about. It was really cool to watch," she said.

Back home, Fulton is active in several extracurriculars. One of them is youth organization 4-H Churchtown Busy Bunch. She has been a member for nine years, but the past year has been the branch's secretary.

"I take notes during meetings and do roll call every meeting," she said.

Fulton is also a member of Fort Frye's Future Farmers of America chapter. She has been a member since eighth grade. For the 2022-2023 school year, she served as the chapter's reporter. In May 2023, she went to the State FFA convention in Columbus and received a Gold rating for her work as the reporter. One of her projects was putting together a scrapbook that depicts the events the chapter participated in that year.

For the 2023-2024 school year, Fulton was elected as the chapter's sentinel, who oversees other officers and chips in to help when needed.

Fulton takes inspiration from her chapter advisor, Abby Campell.

"She's always willing to help you when you need it," Fulton said. "She's a role model and I look up to her."

Fulton is a member of Fort Frye's cross country and track team. While she enjoys doing both, she said there's a particular camaraderie with her cross country team mates.

"I like them a lot because we're in the same grade and have competed together since seventh grade,"

In November 2022, Fulton and her six team mates qualified for All-Academic Ohio at the state tournament in Obetz. To qualify, each athlete needed a cumulative 3.5 GPA or higher.

Maggie Fulton

Age: 16

Class: Junior

Favorite subject: Agricultural Science

Extracurriculars: Future Farmers of America, Cross Country, Track, 4-H Churchtown Busy Bunch

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