Sixth grader’s project gains national traction

Before tractors changed American farming, they first had to win over farmers — and a Nodaway Valley sixth grader’s study of that turning point has earned him a trip to Washington, D.C.

Max Mensing has been rewarded for the forethought and hard work he poured into a poster presentation on the history of tractors with a spot at the national level of the National History Day Contest this June. He’s the first Nodaway Valley student to ever go this far in the contest.

Mensing, the son of Tony and Jennifer Mensing of Greenfield, is in Laura Britten’s homeroom and is a talented and gifted student of Gena Ward. He has never been to the nation’s capital.

Mensing comes from a farming family, and his grandfather Bruce Mensing’s collection of classic tractors inspired him to choose the topic for his project.

To advance from the regional level of the competition, Mensing had to finish in the top three, but he did even better by winning his category. At the state level, where the top two advanced, he finished as runner-up.

“I thought it was pretty neat that I will get to go to Washington, D.C., and compete at nationals,” Mensing said. “I did regionals and placed first in my category, then at state I did a first round with the judges and made it onto the second round.”

At the state contest, held at Iowa State University, contestants like Mensing who had a chance to move on experienced long waits. His first round was at about 9 a.m., and he did not finish until evening.

“They released who had made it onto the second round at 1:30, and then I had to wait until 6 to see if I made it on farther,” Mensing said.

Mensing’s thesis for the paper that accompanied his poster paralleled the National History Day theme. His poster began with the fact that the first mass-produced internal combustion engine tractor was developed by Hart-Parr in Charles City in 1901.

“[They] caused a revolution in history, reformed how farmers worked and led to reactions that changed rural life forever,” Mensing wrote in his thesis.

“I wanted to do something about tractors because this fit pretty good. It was so interesting,” Mensing said. “I learned a lot of different things, and this is one of those things that will stay with me for a long, long, long time. I think my judges liked my topic because it fit in with Iowa, and I won the Iowa Agricultural History Award as well.”

While researching the topic and gathering information, Mensing learned how much labor was saved with the advent of the tractor. A graph on his poster showed the difference between the era when horses were mainly used and the time when more modern tractors came about. He also had a toy horse and model tractors with his poster to show advancements in technology through the years.

“Farming has changed a lot with tractors. There were mixed reactions to tractors. Some thought it was good, some thought it was bad,” Mensing said. “It was bad for the small farmers because they couldn’t compete with the big farmers who were producing a lot more.”

Mensing said he is most proud of making it to nationals, but he also has benefited from what he learned and from the journey it took to reach this point.

“This feels really good. I had to wait around for five hours to see if my work was good enough to move on, and it was,” Mensing said. “Now I get to go on to Washington, D.C., which feels really good. It will be the first time I’ve been there, so it’s going to be fun.”