Life's adventures: Governor's School of Math and Science

When Sam was in 7th grade his math teacher suggested he apply for the Governor's School of Math and Science, but Sam was very hesitant so we let him relax. But towards the end of 8th grade, that math teacher as well as his Alegebra I teacher suggested once again that he apply.

He was hesitant, but I assured him we would not embellish the application at all. If he had no experience with someone, we would say so. And so we did. And he was invited!! He was a bit concerned he would feel dumb, but we suggested that perhaps he was the perfect candidate....not genius level, fixated only on certain aspects of math or science, but a bright kid with high aptitude in both math and science as well as writing.

As I reported in the first entry to this year's vacation, we went to Morgantown the night before, enjoyed dinner with Father John Stonesifer, who graciously offered to be an emergency contact for Sam since we would be so far away. Lisa and Dan, Sam's older sibs, are living about 2-3 hours from Morgantown, so as his mom, I felt I could let the apron strings out.

After an orientation for the students and parents, we older folks were told to leave and the fun began for Sam. The program did a great job of mixing classroom time (maybe 5 hours a day) and lots of outside and indoor activity. They went for hikes, played basketball, went swimming, played pingpong, and went on field trips, including two to Pittsburgh, one to the museum of natural science (Sam had some deja vu, as I had taken the kids there the summer before Dan started at Carnegie Mellon.) and a long day at Kennywood Park, an amusement park in Pittsburgh.

The theme of the Governor's School was to design an amusement park ride, using math and science to achieve the goal. Sam's group designed a roller coaster that was about 6 feet high and 6 feet long. They had to make the ride last as close to 2 minutes as they could and achieved something around 1:45 or so (sorry, Sam, I should have had yoou write this part.)

This is the group that attended, about 35 kids in all from all over the state of West Virginia.

And in case, you think smart kids have no sense of humor, this is the same group.

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The day after Sam returned from the Governor's School he participated in his first ever triathlon. Organized by Healthy Hungtington, the day before the adult event there was a modified raace for kids. Ages 9 and under (and there was a 3-year-old particiapting!) and 10-14 were the two groupings. So Sam's first try at a triathlon is his last at a shorter race.

Beech Fork Lake is a state park near Huntington, The older group swam 100 yards. I had told Sam how to move his arms and position his hands and finders to maximize his stroke strength but we had had no opportunity to practice. Even so, he finished about midway in the field of about 35 kids.

The problem happened next. We had not practiced or even discussed how to transition from being wet to getting on his running shoes. He also put on a tee-shirt. And he had forgotten to bring his helmet and needed to readjust the borrowed one. In all, he seemed to spend a kazillion years in this staging...probably more like 3 minutes...but was the last one out of the chute into the biking phase.

Last summer Sam went on a cross country bike ride from New York City to Albany, NY. We had gotten him a hybrid bike for that trip and that is the bike he used to race. He has very strong legs and halfway through his 4 laps he had pulled up to about the midpoint in the group.