AUBURN â With just a few weeks until actors were set to take to the stage in performances of âThe Best Christmas Pageant Everâ last December, Excelsior Arts Academy and Youth Theater Executive Director Kent Johnson was forced to cancel the show.
Cases of COVID-19 were on the rise, and while the First Christian Church in Auburn was the perfect setting to tell the Christmas story, there was not the room needed for the cast to socially distance backstage, Johnson explained.
âThis was one of the most difficult decisions I ever had to make. As you might guess, many people were disappointed due to the amount of work that had already occurred,â Johnson said.
Projects were judged last week, and awards were presented Sunday in a virtual format.
Refner will be receiving a plaque and a $300 cash award.
His project was titled âBest of the Big Three.â He tested the fruit production of husky cherry red tomatoes using nitrogen, phosphorus and potassium.Â
Refner raised 12 plants, with three as control subjects and three apiece with each of the âbig three fertilizers. He fertilized and watered the plants, plucked fruit as it ripened and recorded the number and weight of the fruits by plant for the more-than-three-month growing season.Â
At the conclusion of the growing season, he compiled all the data and analyzed the results to come to his award-winning conclusions.Â