And the Winner Is...

Brad participated in his first Science Fair on Tuesday night. His experiment was to determine whether peanuts contain enough energy for heating water. He chose this because the procedure involved lighting things on fire. What kid wouldn't love that? We actually had a lot of fun doing the experiment part. It was all of the documentation that got a little tedious. But we both felt really good about the end result.

From 6 to 6:45, the judges walked around and deliberated over the exhibits. Brad only had to compete against the other 5th and 6th graders. Shortly after we arrived, six purple "Best in Show" ribbons were handed out to the top third of the project. Chase and Brad both got one and they were so excited. It was even better that they got to share a presentation table.

For the next hour, Brad stood by his experiment explaining to onlookers what all he had done. During that time, he also had his interview by the three-judge panel. I actually got some of this on video. I was so nervous for him, but he was awesome. At one point they asked him a question that he couldn't think of an answer for. He said, "Hmmm. I'm trying to think of how to put this." After a few seconds they prompted him with another question and he was off the hook. Tell me that's not a life skill.
Meanwhile, Bailey found the only exhibit that involved live animals.
She borrowed my camera, and I now have 27 variations of this picture.

Since Brad had placed in the top third, we moved into the main room with the Lower and Upper Division students for the awards ceremony. This is his buddy Grant who is a senior and has been an incredible friend to Brad and Chase this year. What a great kid. I really pray that Brad makes as positive an impact on the 5th grade boys when he is a senior as Grant has on him.

When it came time to announce the winners, Chase won 3rd place for his awesome paper airplane experiment. Another student won 2nd place for his crystal radio. I was sitting there in disbelief until the moment they said, "First place goes to Brad Swords for Peanut Energy." We were stunned! What a fun moment. His face after he came back to his seat says it all.
Throughout the time we worked on this experiment Brad would periodically ask what he should do if he won the $50. If I told him once, I told him 50 times, "Don't count your chickens before they hatch, son."

As soon as he sat down he leaned up and whispered in my ear, "Mom, the chickens have HATCHED!"

Indeed they have. And I couldn't be more proud. :)