Third Place

Mr. B. got a very nice note from his teacher about his science fair project. "You would make a great teacher," she wrote, which surprised me as much as him, though his paternal grandfather was a college professor. I missed his classroom and competition presentations on his collection and classification of sharks, but having judged the fair last year I knew to warn him to be sure not to read off the display, though he could point to parts of it if he wanted to. His oral must have been really good, because he won Third Place out of about forty other second graders who entered voluntarily. I went by to look at the entries after the judging. His seemed to be the only one on sharks. Next year, in third grade, he’ll be required to enter, as he will be each year through fifth grade. We have all year to decide what to do next time.