Archive for December 8th, 2008

Today I stepped back to my daily journalism roots, going to a press conference this morning and filing a story by early afternoon. It’s always a bit of a rush — even moreso today since it’s my first time trying it with a sick toddler at home. Anyway, the story was the announcement of the winners of the 2008 Siemens Competition in Math, Science and Technology. You can read my article on Scientific American’s website here.

What’s interesting to me? The top three winners all went to specialized public residential high schools for math and science. The team winners both went to the North Carolina School of Science and Math (which my older brother and sister-in-law attended). The individual winner is a student at the Texas Academy of Math and Science in Denton. The Indiana Academy was also represented among the finalists. As an Indiana Academy graduate, I think these public residential schools for gifted kids are among the best investments a state can make. About a dozen states have such schools. Frankly, all of them should — and the Siemens Competition certainly made that point today (to the tune of $100,000 for the top individual and team).