It's risky to choose a 7-year-old to be your co-presenter. I knew this going into a recent series of talks with my kids at the Adventure Science Center in Nashville, Tennessee. My 13-year-old son, Sho, 7-year-old daughter, Saya, and I gave five 1-hour presentations to groups of students and adults. We described our experience cycling 1700 miles of the Lewis & Clark Trail last summer and tested the audience's knowledge of the famous expedition, including some of the plants and animals documented in Lewis & Clark's famous journals. We also showed a video about how we collected roadkill data throughout the 2-month journey. I think Sho and Saya most enjoyed having older kids and adults listen quietly to what they had to say and raise their hands to ask a question. It's the little stuff...
The Tennessean newspaper published an article about our talks, which includes a short video. You can check it out here: http://tnne.ws/1h8WawO
In the article, the journalist described Saya as "a girl who fidgets more than talks," no doubt because she refused to sit quietly and answer his questions, preferring to leave the interview shortly after it began and go play. She also did back bends during our presentations and generally stole the show. It was risky to include her, but I wouldn't have had it any other way.
Here are some pics:
Tennessean article
Saya goofing around during the presentation
Question: "Can a 12-year-old boy and 6-year-old girl pedal over the Rocky Mountains?"
Answer: "Yes, they can, because they just did!"
