The past 11 days has been the kickoff of the Nerd World Tour starring my daughter.
On the 11th we traveled to the District Power Of The Pen competition. My daughter is the captain of the 8th grade team. The teacher/advisor couldn’t make it and essentially left my daughter in charge. Naturally she crushed it. She is my kid after all. In addition to taking on the adult responsibility for the team, she still competed while helping everyone be where they needed to be. Of the 6 members of the 8th grade team, one placed in the top 12 and the team as a whole took 2nd place. 5 of the 6 team members did well enough to advance to regionals in March.
On the 18th it was MathCounts. MathCounts is competitive math…like the Mathletes in Mean Girls. My daughter didn’t make the main team, but she competed as an individual. And, like in the movie, she was the only girl from her school to compete. Not sure exactly how well she did, but we know it wasn’t enough to move on. It was worth it just to see some of these kids in action – seriously fucked up sick math skills. Even more interesting (or perhaps not so much) was that easily 90% of the room was Asian or Indian in ethnicity. You can talk about stereotypes all you want, but I’ll always believe stereotypes are often stereotypes for a reason. It was also (again, as you may have guessed) probably 90% male. So you’d think being the caucasian girl would mean standing out like a sore thumb, but oddly enough, most of the girls weren’t asian or indian…and none placed in the top spots. (another stereotype reality?)
Not sure any of it matters, but the observations were just too obvious not to make.
Then earlier tonight on the 22nd we hit the school science fair. My daughter and a friend put together some thing on intelligence or different kinds of intelligence or IQ vs test scores or some shit. She has an awesome super-long title for their entry that I can’t even begin to relay. They totally tested and graded kids from their school and came up with some kind of right brain/left brain IQ/Test Score abstract thingy hickey.
Honestly, I know shit about it. They did it entirely themsleves and were here over the weekend until 4am putting it all together.
I don’t think they were expecting much other than having some fun and entering the Science Fair and gloating in their nerdom.
Basically, each projected is judged by two random judges from the panel of several and their scores are averaged to give a final score out of a possible 40. Based on your score, you’re then awarded a rating of either Good, Excellent or Superior.
They hand out a couple of “Good” awards. Basically, thanks for playing. One group literally grew salt crystals another kid copied the definition of centrifugal force and paster a couple of roller coaster pictures next to it (I think one was mine!).
The “Excellent” award piles was huge. They even announced that most fell into this category. They’re calling names and handing them out and the kids are lining upo to take photos and the pile of certificates is getting smaller and smaller and smaller until it’s gone and my daughter and her friend are still sitting there with being handed a “Good” or “Excellent” certificate. You can totally see the “Holy Shit” moment click in their eyes as the pile is dwindling.
Before they pass out the “Superior Awards” they explain that to reach this level you had to score at least 35 or better. They also explain that anyone getting this rating is invited to the District Science Fair in mid-March. The handed out a handful of “Superior” certificates – my daughter & friend included – and pull these groups and parents to the side to hand out paperwork and explain the process to those interested in moving on.
So the first leg of the Nerd World tour is over, but the next leg is just around the corner with Regional Power Of The Pen and District Science Fair competitions on the horizon.
Pretty awesome stuff.
