Two Spokane high school seniors brought home a second-place finish from one of the most competitive student science events on the planet, earning recognition for research that connects two of the region’s most pressing agricultural concerns: wildfire smoke and crop production.
Teddy Osborne, 18, and Anders Thogerson, 17, placed second in the world in environmental science at the Regeneron International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF) in May 2026, held in Phoenix. The pair represented Ferris High School in a field of 1,383 projects submitted by students from 67 countries. Their finish came with a $2,400 prize and a distinction that has rarely been achieved by students from the Eastern Washington region in the fair’s 76-year history.
Smoke, Seeds, and Science
The project centered on how wildfire smoke affects the germination and early growth of common food crops. Osborne and Thogerson exposed seeds from broccoli, wheat, and rice plants to smoke, then compared their development against unsmoked control seeds. The results were striking: smoked seeds germinated more slowly and, under microscopic examination, showed surface cracks and material deposits not seen in their untreated counterparts.
The research unfolded over the course of a full school year as part of Ferris High’s biomedical innovations class, guided by teacher Darci Hastings. Hastings, who has spent 26 years in education, drew on a connection to a previous ISEF standout to strengthen the project’s scientific depth. Anna Armstrong, a student who earned fourth place in environmental engineering at the 2022 fair and is now a senior at Western Washington University, contributed scanning electron microscope images that helped document the microscopic changes in the smoked seeds.
When the results were announced, Hastings made no effort to conceal her reaction. “I was kind of freaking out, like screaming during my class,” she said. “I was literally running up and down the hallway.”
A Rare Regional Achievement
The finish marks only the second time in the fair’s history that a student team from Eastern Washington has earned an award at ISEF. Armstrong’s 2022 fourth-place finish was the first. Back-to-back appearances on the ISEF podium from the same geographic region — and the same classroom mentor — represents a remarkable run for Ferris High School and the broader Spokane-area academic community.
Students qualify for ISEF by advancing through regional competitions, making the path to the international stage itself a multi-step accomplishment. Earning a top-two finish among more than a thousand projects drawn from dozens of nations places Osborne and Thogerson among the most accomplished young scientists in their field from this year’s cohort.
The subject matter they chose carries particular relevance for agricultural communities across the Inland Northwest and Northern Idaho, where wildfire smoke has become an increasingly common seasonal reality. Understanding how smoke exposure during critical germination windows affects staple crops like wheat could have practical implications for farmers trying to protect their yields during fire seasons. For communities throughout the Silver Valley and broader region that depend on agricultural stability, this kind of foundational research holds real-world weight.
Questions about education funding and resources available to rural and regional schools — which can directly affect whether students have access to advanced coursework like biomedical innovations — remain an ongoing concern locally. Federal budget proposals under discussion could reshape grant structures that support rural school programs, a topic that has drawn attention in communities like those served by area school districts. For more on those funding questions, see our earlier coverage: Trump budget would fold rural school grant into a block grant, raising Silver Valley concerns.
What Comes Next
Both Osborne and Thogerson are graduating seniors, meaning their time at Ferris High School is wrapping up just as their scientific reputations are beginning to build. Whether the research leads to further study at the collegiate level or inspires follow-on work remains to be seen. For Hastings and the biomedical innovations program, however, the consecutive ISEF achievements suggest the school has built something replicable — a pipeline from rigorous classroom science to international recognition that few regional high schools can claim.