The superintendent pulled out a business card. "I sit on the board of the Nebraska Water Alliance. Call me."
"I need a partner," Leo said, his voice flat from disuse. "And the prize is five hundred dollars. I'll split it. You don't have to do any of the science." home student 2013
The principal was holding the solar system trophy, but the superintendent—a grizzled man in a cowboy hat—was crouched next to Leo’s sensor, watching the LED flicker from red to green as he wet a paper towel and touched it to the soil. He looked up. The superintendent pulled out a business card
The night before the fair, they were soldering the final connections in the school's electronics lab. It was past 8 PM. The building was silent. Leo’s sensor was working perfectly—an LED blinked green for "moisture optimal," red for "dry." "And the prize is five hundred dollars
Enter Maya Alvarez. Maya was a junior known for two things: her blistering editorial cartoons for the school paper, and her absolute refusal to fit in. She wore combat boots with floral dresses and read Vonnegut during pep rallies. When Leo awkwardly approached her after a volleyball game, holding a printout of his circuit diagram, she looked at him like he was a ghost.
The fair was a circus. Other projects included a baking soda volcano, a potato battery, and a kid who grew mold on bread. Leo and Maya’s sensor was the only original thing there. Judges walked by, nodded, and moved on to the flashier projects—a remote-controlled car, a model of the solar system with glowing LEDs.