Area student's inquisitiveness runs deep

Steve Moyer/Daily Mail Sixteen-year-old Brandon Plunkett is digging out his own version of an outdoor classroom, to enable students studying agriculture a cross-section view of the earth covering his parents' rural Nevada farm.

By Steve Moyer

Nevada Daily Mail

Brandon Plunkett is like any other 16-year-old living in a rural area; sometimes he gets bored. Unlike many of his peers however, he doesn't mope around the house complaining of his boredom -- he finds his own way of keeping it at bay. He builds things or finds other ways of keeping busy on his parents' land southeast of Nevada.

His latest project is a hole in the ground meant to facilitate study of the soil composition and other factors. It's his second such excavation, and so far he's dug down more than a dozen feet and has plans to enlarge the bottom of the hole to accommodate several people.

"My ag class is coming out here to study the ground. I want to make the hole big enough so everyone can fit," Plunkett said.

Along with plenty of clay, Plunkett has unearthed several pieces of a limb, some of which appear to have petrified.

"Some of it is soft and mushy, when you squish it it's got a lot of sand. The other piece are hard, like a rock." Plunkett said that he hasn't had trouble with animals getting into the hole this time around.

"Last time rats just sort of jumped in all the time, maybe it's the time of year. With the temperature so low, there's not a lot of stuff running around. But hawks and geese fly real low to the ground sometimes. I guess they don't see me. I've never been that close to a hawk before."

Plunkett has undertaken other large-scale science-related projects during the past several months as well. For example, he built a hang glider -- but unfortunately, it didn't work the way he'd envisioned.

"I had to run along behind the truck pulling it and it never took off. I hit the ground," he said.

Plunkett also made a parachute but didn't get a chance to test it. Pointing to a microwave tower a short distance away, he said he wanted to test the parachute by jumping from the tower. "They wouldn't give me permission to jump," he said.

When asked if he plans to take college courses in design or engineering Plunkett said no, he had other plans. "The courses I'd take would be forestry or something that would lead to a job as a ranger. I think I'd like that." College may have to wait though until Plunkett fulfills a dream. "I'd like to hike around the coast of South America and then hike into the jungle, there's a lot of stuff I'd like to see."