Day 161: Last week, the call went out among Park employees for people willing to volunteer at the local elementary school's annual Science Fair. "Oh, how fun!" I said to myself, and submitted my name as I recollected the Science Fairs of my early years and the young experimenters who waited patiently beside their displays as the teachers or judges worked their way around the room. I had visions of quiet and order among the ranks, foolish me. What I found was, if not quite chaos, something which called to mind spit on a hot griddle, little child-shaped energy packets popping off all four walls and the ceiling, and decibel levels which surely must have approached harmful levels. I also found a wealth of inquisitive and intelligent minds, clever presentations, thorough methods which would have made any college professor proud of the student, and even better, I learned a few things from these K-6 kids. Some of them showed a remarkable environmental sensitivity in their hypotheses while others just had fun with chemistry or physics. Would I sign up for the same duty next year? Uh...can I have a day or two to recover before I answer that question, please?
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