Science guys in San Fran

I remember getting into trouble as a third grader, because I would ask to go to the bathroom and be gone for half an hour. The teacher usually hunted me down after a few minutes and eventually stopped letting me go.

Instead of using the mini-facilities and returning to class, I would wander the halls outside the fifth-grade classrooms looking at the science projects. I remember the potato light bulb and seeing if I could shock myself on the tiny wires attached to a hot dog.

I lost much of that fascination with science by the time I was old enough to participate in science fairs. I am, however, fascinated with other people participating in science fairs -- in particular, the two from Southeast Missouri participating in the Intel International Science and Engineering Fair in San Jose, Calif., this week.

Logan Ressel, a freshman at Saxony Lutheran High School, and Austin Pierce, a freshman at South Pemiscot High School, are presenting their experiments at the fair. St. Vincent de Paul eighth-grader Zach Raines won an observer spot and is out there as well.

Check out the neXt page in the Southeast Missourian Thursday for a story about Logan and his project.

Raines' mom Kathy has been corresponding with some people here at the paper. Her husband Scott works with us. Here are some of the things Kathy has said about the competition so far:

We arrived late on Sunday, but made it in time for the guys to go to the Pin exchange. Here the students were able to trade and meet some of the brightest students from all over the world. Zach has some really awesome pins from Egypt, China and of course the US. We would like to thank the City of Cape Tourism office for the supply of 50 City of Cape Pins. There are kids here from over 30 countries. The convention staff have been extremely friendly and the city appears to be very safe and a great place to explore. Many events separate the kids from the adults -- which has been so good for our three guys as they are really starting to bond together.

On Monday, we went to visit Logan (Saxony High School) and Austin (Steele MO) display their projects. The room is filled with really innovated ideas. You can almost feel the brain waves as you walk into the room.

In one project a kid invented a robot that can solve a Rubik's cube in a minute! There are so many projects to see. We also visited the many displays from Intel, Google and others. In our free time we visited the very unusual Winchester Mystery Mansion -- check it out on the web.

Last night we attended the Opening Dinner (YUM!) and the opening ceremony. The President/Ceo of Intel Paul Otellini and the co-founder of Google talked with the group. Then Five Rock Stars of Intel were available for the kids to ask questions via Twitter. The rock stars included an anthropologist (spelling) Genevieve Bell who visits people in their homes and researches technology, Ajay Bhat the founder of the USB (WOW!), Faye Briggs, Taimur Burki (environmental Engineer for Intel) and Lila Ibrahim. How many 14 to 18 year olds get the chance to ask questions of such top people such as this! We had a great, crowded ride home on the light system.

Today --- its off to San Francisco and then later to the Fair. The city is the host tonight.

Thanks to everyone who helped make this opportunity available to Zach and all of us. From SVS to SEMO Science Fair to San Jose to the WORLD of Possibilities!