By Whitney Baxter
From judging soil profiles to swimming at nationals to learning to play the Campanile, Elizabeth Severson has done it all during her time at Iowa State University.
Severson, a graduating senior in agronomy and horticulture, is the fall 2024 recipient of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences Student Council Outstanding Senior Award. The award is presented to graduating students who have shown exceptional effort in leadership, service and academia.
A native of Marion, Iowa, Severson became interested in agronomy through her involvement in the World Food Prize Foundation’s Global Youth Institute, which she participated in as a high school student. She said the event got her thinking about food insecurity and introduced her to Iowa State. She later added horticulture as a second major.
“It’s been a fun way to continue working with plants in a different way,” Severson said of her horticulture classes.
As a sophomore, she joined the Soils Judging Team. Highlights of her involvement included first-place individual and team judging awards. She also helped organize the American Soil Academy/Soil Science Society of America National Soil Judging Contest hosted in Ames last spring.
Amber Anderson, associate teaching professor of agronomy and Soils Judging Team coach, described Severson as “high achieving, humble and hardworking.” She said Severson’s leadership as team captain greatly impacted the team’s high placing last year. Anderson appreciated Severson’s role in preparing for and hosting the national judging contest.
“Her organization and ability to get things done for the spring contest was incredible,” Anderson said. “It didn’t matter what we asked her to do; she did it.”
Perhaps Severson’s favorite part of being on the Soils Judging Team is encouraging younger students to become involved.
“Teaching newer soil judgers and seeing them do well has been cool,” Severson said.
The connections she made on the team led Severson to enroll in a class where she learned to play the carillon inside the Campanile bell tower on central campus. She and other students in the class will play a couple of musical pieces as their final during the noon hour on Dec. 13. Severson will be playing the carol of the bells.
“Learning how to play the carillon has been rewarding and challenging,” Severson said. “It is such a unique and wonderful instrument. It’s been an honor to be able to play up in the Campanile.”
She also has taken advantage of undergraduate research experiences on campus. Severson has worked in the labs of:
- Ajay Nair, chair and professor of horticulture – tomatoes and biostimulants research
- Fernando Miguez, professor of agronomy – agroecosystem modeling, Anaerobic digestate research
- Arti Singh, associate professor of agronomy, and Danny Singh, professor of agronomy – soybeans/mung beans/plant breeding research and applications of AI in agronomy
Outside the classroom, Severson has been a member of the ISU Swim Club. A swimmer since age 5, she advanced to nationals her freshman year at Iowa State, then qualified for nationals her junior year.
The diversity of her Iowa State experiences reflects her belief in exploring the many opportunities available on- and off-campus, which she encourages fellow students to do.
“You don’t have to know exactly what you want to do right now,” Severson said. “I’ve really tried to keep an open mind in agronomy and have learned that you can do a lot of things within the major.”
With a dream of becoming a soil scientist, Severson will enroll in Iowa State’s soil science graduate program this spring.
“I’m excited to continue working with her and seeing her continued growth as a person and as a student,” Anderson said.