Davis High senior wins rare scholarship for plant medicine research he conducted in Africa
DAVIS -- Most people reading through Max Bloom's research on plant medicine in Africa would be shocked to learn that he is only 17 and about to be a senior at Davis High School.
Bloom was inspired after a family vacation to tour the local safaris of Tanzania when he got to interact with the Maasai Tribe and learn about their traditional approach to medicine.
"I saw them using these plants and I really became interested in that. I came back to the U.S. and started researching them more," Bloom said.
He embarked on a solo journey last summer when he was just 15, meeting up with two translators in Northern Tanzania for a month-long study of the plants native to the Maasai Tribe and how its people use them medicinally to heal ailments from headaches to fever, to sore throat and much more.
"My average day would be that we would go into the fields and find these elders in these little villages that were all over. The elders would tell us about the remedy and we would find it in the bush, photograph, record, and really get the most complete view of what this remedy is," Bloom said.
Bloom documented nearly 100 plants during his month in Tanzania, recording their medicinal properties in a database on his website.
He said just as important is preserving the culture and tradition of the Maasai people.
"I want to make these plants not just data points, but these are human stories," Bloom said. "For me, it's not just the surface level, scientific name. I'm trying to get the Maasai name, hone in on the human aspect of it."
Bloom said the loss of land and plants in Tanzania threatens to wipe out this traditional medicine of the Maasai tribe.
"There's thousands of plants in Maasai land and I only documented about 90. My work is significant but in the scope of everything, it's tiny. There are studies that say half of Maasai plants have disappeared in 10 years. That is horrifying," Bloom said.
Bloom believes his work is the first documentation of its kind recorded in the Maasai language and translated for widespread use.
"These plants, they are not only folklore. These things work," said Bloom, who was healed of a fever he caught on the trip thanks to one of the plant medicines.
Bloom is one of just 20 students nationwide to win a prestigious college scholarship from the Davidson Institute.
"The level of work these students are doing is just extraordinary," said Tacie Moessner, Davidson Fellows scholarship director.
The Davidson Institute granted Bloom $25,000. The group supports highly gifted high school students who are working on projects that have the potential to benefit society.
"The judges really were impressed with the depth of his project, that he collaborated with the Maasai people," Moessner said.
The scholarship will help Bloom pursue African studies and art history at the university level next year. His sights are set on Harvard, Georgetown and the University of Massachusetts, Amherst.
"Really taking this project and expanding it is something I am looking forward to doing in college," he said.
But first, he just has to finish high school before jet-setting back to Tanzania.
The Davis High senior plans to conduct another research expedition with the Maasai tribe next summer before he heads to college.