Congratulations @savagekathryn ... MaST Top Research Scholar

The beautiful and brilliant @savagekathryn aka "The ChillQuill" (center)

On Wednesday night, I attended a MaST Symposium and, alas, it will be the last MaST Symposium I ever attend. It triggered a number of insights and emotions that I'd like to share in this post.

MaST is an acronym for Math, Science & Technology. The program (a regular daily class) is unique to my daughter's High School (Sarasota High School) and is, essentially, a 4-year-long Experimental Science program. During those four years (and the previous three years of Middle School), Katie conducted research in the service of finding a cure for Alzheimer's Disease, an endeavor inspired by my Mom being diagnosed with the disease. 

MaST possesses an advanced on-campus laboratory but has also partnered with nearby hospitals, universities and private research facilities. Hence, the level of research conducted is, in a word ... astonishing. One is left aghast when contemplating the fact that the youngest of these researchers still do not qualify for a Driver's License. As one might expect, MaST students dominate local, regional and state Science Fair competitions. 

Indeed, Katie has won so many Science Fair competitions that it is now almost impossible to remember, let alone list, them all. And, it's not just local, regional and state Science Fairs. Twice, she qualified to participate in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair, the Olympics of Science Fair competitions, competing against students from all over the planet. (This year she again qualified but, regrettably, forfeited her spot because she will have six year-end exams during the time-frame of the competition). She has also been invited, on numerous occasions, to present her research findings to university faculties ... the first time when she was 13 and in Grade 8).

When my Mom was diagnosed with Alzheimer's Disease eight years ago, Katie and I immediately did a deep dive into the disease, respecting both its cause and treatment. For six months, I rarely slept more than three or four hours per night ... time was of the essence. It quickly became apparent, however, that despite hundreds of billions of dollars and decades worth of research, medical science had absolutely no idea what was causing the ailment let alone how to cure it.  

We were faced with a choice: Give up and, like so many others, accept fate; or ... fight. Those of you who follow this blog are probably not surprised to learn that we chose the latter. For better or worse, some people are hard-wired against surrender. 

And so, we cleared out our Dining Room and began to build a biological/chemical laboratory. For the next few years, the only thing either of us received for Christmas and birthday presents was lab equipment and supplies. Katie's Middle School Science Fair Projects were so ridiculously advanced that she often didn't place as the judges figured her Dad had done all the work. I recall watching one of her projects, involving the water-solubilization of a chemical that is completely water insoluble (you have no idea), being beaten by a student who had determined whether each color was equally represented in a package of M&M's. It was morale-destroying as she knew far more about Alzheimer's than most doctors and, before long, most doctors specializing in the disease.

Thankfully, as the years progressed, the Science Fair judges started giving her credit and the accolades began to roll in. And then, she found a home in MaST: A group of science nerds being taught, and encouraged, by an older group of science nerds. And, MaST membership gave her access to fancy scientific equipment and, to my great relief, a budget.

It wasn't just the money and facilities though. I was an attitude: If there's a problem in the world, go fix it. Don't wait for others to fix it, go fix it yourself. And, there was an acceptance that in the process of discovery, sometimes things ... explode. That's why we have brooms and touch-up paint. Scientific successes are built upon a graveyard of failures. And explosions.

Symposium consists of the graduating seniors presenting their terminal research projects. Each student presents their experiment, aided by a huge computerized wall display, before an auditorium of judges and several hundred of their MaST peers, parents and invited scientists, financial donors and dignitaries. Presentations are followed by oral examination by the judges. On Wednesday night, there were 19 graduating seniors, the largest graduating class ever.

Three prizes (plaques plus $200) were awarded for the night's best presentations. But also, the Top Research Scholar was designated (effectively the Valedictorian ... a plaque plus $500). The Top Research Scholar was chosen by the five MaST teachers in consideration of students' cumulative research portfolios over the program's four year period. 

Katie was designated the MaST Top Research Scholar.

Following the Symposium, there was a get-together in the cafeteria. It was emotional. In little more than a month, the graduating class will head off to a variety of universities. Realistically, many will never see each other again. The teachers, all of whom are referred to by diminutions of their last names (Mr. Harshman, for example, is "Harshy" and Ms. Copeland is "Cope"), have become mentors and good friends. Tears flowed freely as all realized that they'd been part of something ... extraordinary ... and that their time in such august company was coming to an end. 

A Few Reflections      

1.) Great Teachers. Society has come up with a litany of metrics meant to gauge the value of educators and educational facilities: The number of teachers with advanced degrees in their field; school rankings relative to peers; standardized test scores; socio-economic and general demographics of the student body; etc. While all of these metrics provide some useful information, they pale compared to an individual teacher's ability to engage their students. And ... such ability cannot be taught. Either a teacher has it or they don't. There is no correlation between this ability and one's academic credentials or the prestige of the schools from which one graduates. 

2.) Parental Involvement. There is only one variable more important to a child's educational attainment than their having Great Teachers: Parental Involvement. Parental involvement is the nuclear bomb of cultivating brilliance. I'm not talking about 'helicopter parenting' (well-meaning amateurs) ... kids need to learn how to solve their own problems, experiencing both the thrill of victory and the agony of defeat. But as militaries have understood for millennia, when you have a hard thing to go through, it is easier if you have someone with whom to go through it. Misery loves company. 

Parenting, when done right, is utterly exhausting. 'Sacrifice' means 'sacred price' and few are willing to pay it. With respect to education, that doesn't mean saying, "Go do your homework," it means checking every answer, every night, for years. In effect, it means that a parent will re-do Kindergarten through Grade 12. It means endlessly conversing about science, math, history, geography, politics, religion and culture ... and, about the meaning of things. Most importantly, it means that when one doesn't know the answer ... one admits ignorance and looks it up. Children gain not just from having a built-in tutor, but also from the inescapable conclusion that someone so highly values 'an education,' that they are willing to pay a pernicious price to ensure that the child receives one.

3.) The Norm is the Average of Your Peers. What's normal? In all aspects of life, this is a hugely important question as it sets a thousand benchmarks of expectation. From the earliest age, Katie was in Advanced Classes. In High School, she enrolled in MaST and all her other classes were AICE (an advanced academic program organized by Cambridge University in England). And, crucially, so too were all the kids with whom she spent her time. In Katie's world, getting a "B" is what getting a "D" would be like in regular classes. In her world, 'excellence' (of any kind) is a valued commodity and one's pursuit of it is the 'norm.' Yes, they were still teenagers with all the angst and social concerns of kids their age, but everything was viewed through an elevated lens.

Smart people, make other smart people ... smarter. 

4.) One Will Not be Brilliant Absent Brilliance being Part of One's Self-Concept. Brilliant people know they're brilliant. Do not mistake this observation for arrogance or conceit ... it is an inescapable observation. But it is also the result of a conscious decision. Having a brain and refusing to use it, yields the same results as not having one at all. But using your brain is effortful. Indeed, even simple mathematical calculations are as traumatic to one's brain as is plunging one's arm into a bucket of ice water. Most people are 'lazy thinkers' because thinking is taxing and, absent the neurochemical reward that comes from re-enforcing a valued self-concept, doing so is a labor that cannot long be sustained by willpower alone.

5.) To Truly Understand Something, You Must Teach It. There is something about having to organize information in such a way that it can be articulated to, and understood by, others that causes one to gain a depth of understanding rarely achieved by study alone. In High School, Katie began tutoring math to younger students. Despite having received Straight A's throughout her schooling, she repeatedly opined that it was only through the teaching of others that she truly came to understand the First Principles underlying the mathematical ideas and concepts that she had supposedly mastered. I regularly experience a similar phenomenon when writing here on Steemit. Even though I may thoroughly understand a subject, it is the distillation process of trying to explain it to others that forces one to find the axioms that underlie their derivative consequences. 

Call a thing by its name and reason from First Principles.

So, What's Next?

In the fall, Katie and her boyfriend, Kaleb, will attend the University of Florida, the state's most highly ranked university. Both have a year's worth of university credits because of their Advanced Studies in High School and both will receive numerous scholarships because of their academic accomplishments. Katie will be double-majoring in Chemical and Biomedical Engineering and Kaleb will be doing the same in Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. 

And, Katie intends to combine the various aspects of her research into a complete Alzheimer's treatment protocol which can be tested on humans in clinical trials.

A Personal Note to @ savagekathryn ... the 'ChillQuill'

Never in all the long history of human beings has a father been more proud of his child than I am of you. You have become an exemplary scholar and an exemplary human being. Congratulations on a job well done ... and an honor well deserved.

XOXOXO
Quill

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