North Woolmarket student wins cabbage growing contest

A North Woolmarket student has been named the 2023 Mississippi State winner of the National Bonnie Plant’s Third-Grade Cabbage Program.

Since October, Cooper Cates has been nurturing a cabbage plant. By February, that cabbage plant had grown to be 7.5 pounds.

Cooper and his third-grade class at North Woolmarket Elementary participated in the National Bonnie Plant’s Cabbage Program.

The goal of the program is to teach third-graders how to tend to a plant, and the person with the largest and best-looking cabbage walks away with a $1000 scholarship and bragging rights.

And according to Cooper… a great supper, too.

“It feels pretty good to do it, mainly because it was delicious when we ate it also. I felt accomplished in myself for it,” said Cooper Cates, who is now a fourth-grader. “That was the first thing I ever actually grew. We started growing a lot more plants in the backyard after it though.”

Surprisingly, they’re not still eating cabbage.