My wife, Barbara, just returned from a week in Reno, Nev., along with two students from Clay County, Fla., and a coworker, Brenda Weeks. They attended the International Science and Engineering Fair.
This was her first trip to the International and that may account for the exuberance she displayed about the trip. Especially when she called me from Reno one morning to exclaim: “They won, Lamar, they won.” Then she broke down in tears.
The “they” in question are Mitchell Stecker and Alex Gandzyura, juniors at Ridgeview High School, who finished third and fourth in their respective divisions at the fair. Note that this is the INTERNATIONAL fair, meaning that they beat out students from all over the world, more than 1,500 I’m told. Quite an accomplishment by two exemplary young men from one small, rural county, and especially from one high school.
I won’t begin to try to explain what their projects were about but if you are interested, you can find out more by clicking here.

Barbara put it best when she said, “Lo0king at these kids, I know that we don’t have to worry about the future of the world.” Read the rest of this entry »