INDIANAPOLIS | A LaPorte High School student was awarded an Apple iPad Tuesday for penning the state's best essay explaining how Hoosier farmers nourish Indiana families, animals and the Earth.
Gov. Mike Pence presented the prize to Jessica-Lena Bohlin, an 11th grader from LaPorte, during a Statehouse ceremony celebrating Indiana's Agriculture Appreciation Month.
Bohlin's essay considers how a smaller number of farmers have adapted to provide food to an ever-growing population.
She said even though Northwest Indiana isn't generally considered a center of farming and agriculture, region residents should be more aware of the subject.
"We don't really pay that much attention, like my school doesn't even have an agriculture program, and I think it's a problem because that's where our food comes from, that's how we survive," Bohlin said.
After high school, Bohlin plans to study international agriculture in college and serve in the Peace Corps, assisting farmers in Third World countries.
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