I wasn’t expecting to learn anything at the State Science Fair. It was just my day to be just a proud mom taking pictures. I did just that but unexpectedly I learned a few things that were big take aways for me.
After a yet another hurriedly whirlwind week, I was able to take a day of vacation yesterday to take in and enjoy seeing our teenager at the State Science Fair along with my brothers, parents and my very smart college roommate, Karla, who was a State Science Fair judge for water quality projects.
First, my former college roommate, Karla is the most beautiful, outgoing and personable female engineer you’ll ever meet. And she designs and builds waste water plants. Between Auntie Lori, the oncology urologist and dear friend Karla the environmental engineer I think our daughters will be inspired by science based careers.
1. Lesson learned in observing at the State Science Fair, we need more women leaders in science based careers.
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| Winning state awards in materials usage in an engineering project and another US Navy award for one of the top junior division projects, Hunter had a smile to share. |
Secondly, it was apparent to me science isn’t always the cool kid thing to do. The Dean of the Engineering School that was speaking during the awards ceremony last night reminded the kids that whether it’s hockey, basketball or football that is talked about at their school and seemed to be placed with the utmost of importance, it is science that is indeed more important. He told all the kids they are on the “Varsity” Science team and this was the State Tournament of Science.
2. No matter if we live in a rural or urban area, as a mom, I learned the lesson that rather than put some much importance on sports, we need to empower our kids more in fun and exciting science related activities, curriculum and projects.
In February, our teenager’s made his small town science fair debut. He earned his first trip to the state competition following the regional science when we had surprise March blizzard on the prairie.
Aside from the competition portion of the State Science Fair, the focus of the event engages all of the participants to think about majoring science based degrees in college and focusing on science related careers. My alma mater, the University of North Dakota, hosted this year’s state competition. Our teenager toured the campus and was exposed to careers in aerospace, engineering, medicine and research. He told me his favorite was genetic engineering.
My third lesson learned comes from an advantage…or disadvantage, depending on your point of view, to rural life. The basketball referee that continuously called fouls on our son this year…is also a state science fair organizer and teacher. The above man happened to be one of the science teachers handing out awards last night and it was a big award that he gave our son.
3. Lesson learned to bite my tongue and not harass a basketball referee. Even if he seems to be blindly making calls and playing favorites on the court, it’s better to be quiet. He might just be handing our son an award a few months later and I want him to smile at the camera and not shake his finger in my face.
The basketball referee/ science teacher handed our teenager the silver plaque for 2nd place overall in the junior division of the state competition. Junior division, which includes grades 7-8, winners do not advance to the International Science Fair, held later this year in Los Angeles.
Our school had two senior division winners place first and second to advance to the international competition and eight total kids win awards.
Our local newspaper and blog will update on the entire success of the group. It was a proud day.
As I drove 220 miles home last night with our teenager snoring and one of his classmate’s sleeping peacefully in my vehicle, a strong fourth lesson learned resonated and repeated through my head.
When we moved to the prairie, I fussed and worried about rural, public education. I still do. My husband and I want to make sure our children…and any child in our school of 200 kids grades K-12 have limitless opportunities and are not held back from our rural and remote location. As I took the above picture of all of our school participants in the State Science Fair competition, a moment of emotion welled up within me. They are not being held back. These children are thriving.
As a mom I am okay with big schools having fancy football fields, swimming pools and tracks. They can have more classes and extra curricular activities offered. Our small rural school has none of the bells and whistles and yet we shined last night…at state level competition in science.
4. Lesson learned…I won’t whine as much about rural education. My husband and I won’t let down on the gas pedal to make sure our kids have the highest quality education but my fears are eased. Our son, today, at age 13 wants to be a genetic engineer. Maybe he will be and maybe he won’t be, but his dreams are big from our rural corner of the prairie.
What is your most recent lesson learned moment?
Congrats to your guy! I’m always amazed at the opportunities available with a rural education {at least in elementary school} Lots of field trips and hands on experiences and one on one teach time:) Paige, who is in preschool stays for an enrichment science class one day a week call ‘Explorers’ and she loves it {Bryce also took this class when he was in Pre-K.
Genetic Engineer! Wow! That is fantastic! I’m sure he’ll reach his goal:)
Looking forward to seeing you next week!
Congratulations to your intelligent (and TALL) son!!! Your post said a lot about the advantages of some school systems over others. Good for you and your kids!
Congrats to your son! He seems like a wonderful young man!
And your former UGA college roomie loves this science focused post too! I love that Hunter is interested in Genetic Engineering…I think that field is fascinating! Oh, and coming from a private school where parents pay 20 grand a year…I still think the #1 marker of success for any student at any school is the support they get from home—I know that you and hubby are smart, educated and supportive of Hunter’s education and that is the biggest factor 🙂 Love you!
Congratulations to your son. I enjoyed reading through your blog. I am from ND also….come say HI!!!!
The referee/science teacher in your post was MY science teacher in high school. How’s that for a small world? He still teaches here and I’m fearing that my sons will also have him. I’m hoping by then that he’ll not remember me as a student…but I’m not holding my breath! 🙂
congrats on having all the hard work pay off and keeping him interested in a science field!
Great points on rural education. Your kids are obviously thriving if they are common home with hardware from the state science meet!
WOW!! congrats Hunter!! Loved your post, Katie!!
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Wonderful post. It is amazing where we will learn life’s next lesson. I grew up in a small rural school, but I liked it. You are right we didn’t have brand new sports equipment or a ton of extracurricular activities, but our teachers made sure we excelled in the classroom to ensure that all doors would be open for us.
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Congrats to Hunter. Not only has he accomplished great things, but he has also found a subject that captures his interest. The rest will be easy, now that he has been bitten by the Future Bug!
From all my 18 yrs. as a high school teacher, as much as you want them to grow and achieve, the student has to find his/her reason to achieve. Some don’t find that until their 30’s! I have the Facebook conversations to prove it!
Give yourself a pat on the back too! You have earned it!