Hail to the Chief

Since November, Emma and Leah have been participating in an extracurricular activity called the "President's Game," which is put on by the gifted programs in the area during presidential election years. The girls have been doing research on U.S. presidents (#27-43), organizing the information into a binder, and then competing in a quiz or trivia competition. This required several early morning meetings, lots of late nights looking at web sites (kind of hard when the internet is down) and delving into reference books (thank you, Uncle Nate and Great-Great Grandma Brooks). These two put a lot of hard work into preparing for this event.

The first competition was held in Rocky River between three schools. I got to go with the kids and watch. A teacher would read a clue about a certain president, and if the students knew which president it was with the first clue, they earned 3 points. With the second clue they earned 2, and if they needed a third clue they received one. It was fun to see the kids' reactions once the president was revealed. There were some groans, but the best was hearing "Yesssssssss!"

We didn't know the results of the competition until yesterday. Little Miss Leah just happened to be the TOP SCORER among ALL the Parkside students with a score of 21 points! (I think the total points possible was 24.) Isn't that wonderful? I am just so proud of her--hard work pays off!

Emma was close behind with 19 points. And here's the kicker: For the county competition (which was supposed to be today, but we are home with another snow day), each school is allowed to send 15 students. Parkside had 17 students who wanted to participate. At the one meeting I couldn't attend, the other parents and the teacher decided to draw names to see who would go, instead of having the top 15 scorers go. They thought that would be more fair. Huh? And guess who happened to be one of the two kids who could not go to the next level. That's right--Emma. I knew that was going to happen. So you're going to have a kid who scored one point go instead of Emma? That ain't right. Life lesson #385, right? What a bummer. I told her no matter what, she was one of the top scorers, and no one can take that away--she should be very proud of all her hard work.

It's a satisfying feeling to see your kids succeed at something they work hard at. I am proud of both my girls and glad they got to have this confidence-boosting experience. And for Leah---on to the county competition! (If we can ever get out from under all this snow....)