By all accounts, the separate MS and LP Classical Physics Olympics were a smashing success, if a bit taxing for Mr. Egg and his friends, many of whom suffered in the pursuit of science.

The Egg-hibitions started in each studio with genre selections:

Middle School featured readings from the Hero’s Allegory Genres, Pilgrim’s Progress like tales of young would-be-heroes who venture out on a great adventure, only to encounter villains named Victim, Distraction and Resistance, each bent on thwarting the quest, killing the would-be-hero and throwing him/her into a fiery hell of eternal damnation.

Launchpad showcased excerpts from the Thinking like Richard Feynman Genre, where LPers learned to use the great physicist’s superpower of childlike curiosity combined with deep research to reveal connections between the simplest and most fundamental rules of nature and its most complex patterns, from the tiniest scale to the universe.

After the genre readings Mr. Egg and his friends participated in each studio in six thrill seeking challenges as Eagles competed to see which approach below yielded the best results:

• Trial and error
• Observation and Prediction (aka the Scientific Method) and
• Theory and equation.

Along with many other lessons, Eagles discovered the real world is messy and the gap between theory and reality can grow because of:

• A misunderstanding of the problems, definitions or tools;
• Inaccurate measurement
• Inconsistent units; or
• Other real-world complications.

Eagles also learned solving a large complex problem requires:

• Breaking the problem into smaller problems that are more easily solved;
• Solving those smaller problems with the right tools; or
• Recombining the solutions to address the more complex problem;

The first Olympic event was balancing a lever, so delicately poised that even a smidgen of error meant Mr. Egg would be crushed.  Next Eagles in each studio had to guess which mass would counterbalance a pulley system – one miscalculation and Mr. Egg would be crushed.

Event Three was the rolling ball bobsled, where armed with Kinematic Equations, Eagles chose just the right height, for just the right potential energy to overcome rotational inertia and friction to propel a ball off the edge of the table into a tiny, waiting cup below.

Event Four was a Static Bungee test, designed to calm Mr. Egg’s nerves for Event Five, his dynamic bungee jump into Lake Acton.  One inch short and he’s miss his bucket goal of diving into a river unscathed; one inch long and he’d crack his head on the bottom.

Before the grand finale, Eagles gathered for lessons learned, where several showed not only a deep appreciation for the difficulty of real-world science, but also an interest in science as a calling.

Tensions were high leading into Event Six,.  Teams One and Two were tied; Team Three close behind, Eagles had to calculate eggactly the right angle to shoot Mr. Egg to hit a small target more than 50 yards away.  Alas – Mr. Egg was not expected to survive this challenge.

After a hard-fought battle, the victors were crowned.  Mr Egg and his friends?  Let’s just say sometimes you have to break a few eggs to make a physics omelet.  

“Does power corrupt?” is our Overarching Question for the year.

No better way to explore this question in a time of pitched political polarity, than putting 1950s crusader Joe McCarthy and his House Un-American Activities Committee on trial and asking: Are these patriots defending the United States against Communist subversion or An evil band of demagogues, trampling the civil liberties that make America great?

At the exhibition, middle schoolers dressed in character, taking strong stands, marshaling evidence and validating courses while appealing directly to logic or a fundamental principle of morality, each side attempting to debunk each other in a mock testimony at a U.S. Senate trial.

When juxtaposed against this session’s Gratitude genre, the exhibition highlighted the power and peril of a free society:  gratitude for all that we have been given, and a promise to defend freedoms – like the freedom of speech – so we can pass along our blessings to future generations.

Is money an objective yardstick, a tool to compare the needs of one person to the wants of another, as economists say? 

Or as psychologists say is it more of an inkblot for longings and fears, a way to compensate for the unconditional love they never received from a parent or that security blanket they never had as a child?

Whatever the role of money, when it comes to investing, should we see it scarce or easy to earn? A precious commodity that must be hoarded, or manna meant to make life more delicious, like a delicious dessert? 

In Session Three Launchpadders dug deeply into questions like these are they crafted Investing in My Future manifestos and money autobiographies with:

• A financial origin story: how they learned about money and who taught them;
• Favorite money myths and cautionary tales;
• Investment heroes and villains;  and 
• Personal investment principles/

The writing challenges complemented the Investing in My Future Quest to explore how to invest, and whether the pursuit of money would lead to a prosperous life or if the love of money would corrupt absolutely, including:

• The risks and rewards of various types of investments;
• The pros and cons of different investment strategies;
• Choices between financial times horizons;
• Tradeoffs between cash, risk or time more important, as well as the impacts of inflation, taxes and fees.
• Whether to put all of your financial eggs in a few excellent baskets or spread them out, in case you are wrong and whether it is possible to predict market moves.

At the Investing in My Future Exhibition, Launchpadders offered their money autobiographies; revealed age-old investing principles and pitched investment products and strategies to visitors, all to see who would invest real money alongside them.

The grand finale was a complex, real-world simulation where adults and Launchpadders competed over an accelerated twenty-year investment horizon.

Each Launchpadder this year has worked hard to discover a Superpower Skill, a gift or talent to be honed to serve others, not only to earn a good living in the real world but also to attract world-class opportunities likely to lead to a calling.

Our goal with this session’s New Media Quest was to offer an authentic glimpse into life as a media professional, held in tension between wanting to create something beautiful and needing to satisfy customers or patrons. 

Launchpad was transformed into a production studio filled with cameras, lighting equipment, and editing bays.  Every day there are creative deadlines, blogging prompts, and photography challenges. 

On the artistic level, Launchpadders asked:  Why do the best photos transcend the medium and transform?  What happens deep inside when you take in a captivating image? How does it change you? How the most powerful photos change the life of a community and nation?

As Launchpadders prepared for the exhibition, they had to weight artistic, commercial and personal goals to decide what mattered most:

• Personal satisfaction for creating great work?
• Selling all of your prints?
• Leaving the guests in awe? or
• Just having a good time?

At the exhibition, parents and guests browsed, asked Eagles about their creative process and bid on their favorite print in a silent auction.

By the end few prints were left unsold and each artist left with some extra spending money.   Yes, art may be its own reward but so is honing a potential Superpower Skill and selling something you made with your own hands.

Quick – what’s the most important skill for an entrepreneur: Sales, Operations or Finance?

If you survey seasoned entrepreneurs, you’ll find most agree that Sales is the most critical function. If you have an army of enthusiastic customers who vote with their dollars, you can solve most operational or financial problems. Without eager customers, your business quickly becomes a money losing black hole.

Our Session Two Middle School Genre and Quest was Storytelling: Websites that Sell.  Our Overarching Question:  “Does power corrupt?” fit perfectly, as sales skills can be used to serve or deceive.

M.S. Eagles practiced blogging, writing drip emails and choosing the powerful words and images to help move a prospective customer through the five steps of a Sales Funnel:

1. Increasing awareness and desire
2. Offering a benefit
3. Qualifying
4. Answering objections; and
5. Closing.

Eagles also learned to storyboard as a way of rapid prototyping and rated several free website creation programs, as each team went through multiple rounds of critique preparing to:

• Market a real product or service for a real business; or
• Pitch a “must have” item for the studio; or
• Sell something during Socrates’ time (which fits into this session’s Civilization focus.)

Learning to sell. Building websites. Two critical 21st Century skills.