Akey Aims for Star Award
Published: Friday, June 6, 2025
Cord Akey, 18, of DeKalb FFA is just two weeks away from realizing his dream to stand among the Indiana State Star finalists at the State FFA Convention.
He is the son of Wes and Anita, and has two younger brothers, Cole, 15, and Jase, 11.
When asked how it felt to be among the final four, Akey broke into a smile.
"It's pretty crazy. I remember going to State Convention my first time and seeing the people, those Star candidates and the videos of them, and kind of being amazed at how awesome that would be, and also felt like it couldn't happen for myself," he said. "It doesn't seem real, honestly, that I am the Star finalist. I am very happy and blessed to have this opportunity and for all the hard work I've done for that to pay off."
Akey completed three agriscience projects during his high school career to help farmers and outdoorsmen.
In his first project, the Waterloo youth determined the strength of different fishing knots to find the most efficient in preventing tackle breakoffs, resulting in a littered waterway.
He tested the breakoff points of six different knots, determining that the Uni knot was the strongest.
"What surprised me was that the fisherman's knot, also known as the improved clench knot, was one of the weakest and most inconsistent knots that I tested," he said.
In his second project, he determined how lunar and weather conditions affect deer activity during the late season in order to give hunters and outdoorsman a better opportunity to see deer.
He found that days with light precipitation, high barometric pressure and moderate wind speeds were best for deer sightings. Lunar phases did not seem to affect deer activity.
The third project examined different agricultural land types and their infiltration rates.
"Runoff is the leading threat to clean water in the U.S. in our waterways," he said. "The purpose of this was to see how agriculture is contributing to the runoff we are seeing."
He evaluated land type, use and farming practices to see how quickly water infiltrates the soil.
"What I found was ... corn and soybean no-till land had infiltrated the worst, meaning it had the highest runoff rate," he said. "The higher the infiltration rates, the less runoff you're going to get."
He said this project identified the runoff issue in Indiana agricultural fields, allowing for next steps.
Since corn and soybeans are the most common use of land in Indiana, Akey said he would like to find a solution.
"It's kind of inspired me to dive deeper into seeing the corn and soybean plant-type in particular and seeing how we can improve that infiltration so that there's less runoff from it, but while also remaining with that efficiency and growing the yields that we like to see," he said.
All three projects contributed to his candidacy for the Indiana FFA State Star in Agriscience.
"My biggest takeaway from these projects is the skills I've learned, in particular persistence and problem solving," he said.
Some of the keys to a good science project, he said, are keeping variables consistent, developing a good question and making it applicable to a wide audience.
Challenges he faced early on included identifying ideas that fit all three of these keys, and acquiring the equipment to test his hypotheses, especially for his infiltration project, which required some sort of rainfall simulator.
"These projects gave me something to work towards," Akey said. "They correlated to with what I care about. Loving the outdoors and caring about our natural resources and environment, I really wanted to do these projects just to get a better understanding of the issues and do my part in solving them."
The projects also act as stepping stones toward his goals for the future, increasing his knowledge in several agricultural and natural resource topics. Akey will attend Purdue University in the fall to study agricultural engineering. He hopes to eventually work as an engineer at an agricultural company, raise sheep and dairy cattle and, later, start an agricultural equipment company and repair shop.
For now, he is eagerly awaiting the State Convention and hoping to encourage younger FFA members to reach for their dreams.
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