He Is Our Chemist

It was deja vu all over again for our family as Brendan competed in the You Be The Chemist (YBTC) State Fair Regional Challenge this year. Much like last year, he did well, coming in 3rd place amongst HEAVY competition. This year's Challenge went to single-question elimination; Brendan went out on a question I thought for certain he knew. He knows it now.

3rd place prize was a $50 giftcard to Best Buy AND a slot at the Michigan YBTC State Challenge this Spring. Last year's State Challenge was held at DOW Chemical in Midland. There's plans to move it to the WTVS studios in suburban Detroit & have it recorded for later rebroadcast.

Surprisingly, I was a nervous wreck. Brendan was introduced as last year's State Fair Champion which put a target on his back. His 3rd place finish was behind two 8th graders. Not too shabby.

The funniest part about all this chemistry he does is that actually, he's really NOT a chemist. He's more of an astro-physics or quantam physics kid. The chemistry is just something he does for fun & prizes, I think. His eyes are on winning the State Challenge which earns him a free trip (+ a parent) to the National Challenge in Philadelphia in June 2010. Reasonable goals for our 6th grade chemist.