Today marked the 11 month and the 20th day of the year. The school had 2 days off for break. Leo’s parents enrolled him in a 2 day Astronomy and Space camp, so Leo’s mom drove him downtown toward 234 Highstreet, where the camp was held. Since Leo’s parents weren’t rich at all, he always went to the rundown camps in one of those dirty facilities where the fan in the room wouldn’t work and the windows were rusted shut, but this time it was different. Instead of the dingy cabin Leo was expecting, it was much, much better.

There were 3 tall buildings, each almost 150 feet tall, a huge lunchroom, a legit basketball court, and even a pool! After a couple minutes of just staring at the campus, a man with a name tag labeled Kevin walked up to Leo and asked,
“Are you here for the camp?”
“Yes,” Leo replied.
“Follow me. I’ll take you to the campus,” said Kevin.

Leo quickly said bye to his mom and scurried after Kevin. Kevin stood about 6 and a half feet, but he looked as skinny as a stick. He had a craggy smile on his face which could always warm you up on a cold winter day. Although Leo never met Kevin before, he could tell that he was a nice man. Oddly, since no one else showed up for camp, Kevin gave Leo a personal tour of the Astronomy and Space campus, which was located next to the camp’s campus. Leo springed in happiness that he was the only kid in camp because for once, he would finally get some attention!

To kick off the day Kevin took Leo to one of the huge buildings as a field trip. They entered one of the rooms inside the building. Once entering the room, Kevin opened another door, walked across the hallway and into another room labeled “Planetarium.” Inside the Planetarium laid one of the coolest things Leo saw in his whole life, an XT4000. The XT4000, if activated, could show a full scale projection of space inside the room. Leo screamed in joy just looking at the amazing device.
“Whoa there!” Kevin said as he pulled out two chairs from the back.
Kevin and Leo both sat down on the chairs and rapidly started chatting about the XT4000. They discussed about the shape, the features, and the design of the product. By the time Kevin and Leo were finally done yapping away, the time read 5:00, the end of camp.

Kevin guided Leo through the many strings of buildings while explaining to Leo that all those buildings were part of a Lab. The real camp laid on the other side of the campus in a little cabin, and that this was just a field trip. Leo seemed pretty upset that the camp actually was an another run down cabin, yet Leo was happy to be the only one there, so he couldn't complain. At the end of camp, Leo and Kevin said their goodbyes and went home.

Leo got in his mom’s car, and waited for the engine to her 1992 Honda Civic to finally start. The ride back home was quiet, a little bit too quiet. There were no “How was your day?” or “Did you have fun?” Leo thought this seemed unusual because his mom at least made the effort to say something to Leo. He knew something wasn’t right, so he asked
“Mom is there anything wrong?”
“Yes.” she answered “ I just got laid-off from my job at the Engineering company, and now we will become poor if we don’t earn enough money.” This was just great”, Leo thought sarcastically, “another problem to deal with.”

After Leo reached home, he quickly ran upstairs to his bedroom and started reading more about the XT4000 is a science magazine just out of curiosity. After Leo finally put the magazine down, he took a bath and went to bed. That night, Leo had terrible dreams about his house going into foreclosure and becoming a beggar on the streets. Leo’s life just kept on getting worse and worse and there was nothing he could do about it.

Leo woke up with a start the next morning . His dreams about foreclosure completely ruined his mood for the day. He brushed his teeth, threw on some clothes, and rushed downstairs for breakfast. Downstairs, Julie, Leo’s mom, and Carl, Leo’s dad were frantically looking for a job that would suite Julie’s background, engineering. Newspapers were sprawled all over the floor, laptops were turned on and running, but at the end of the scavenge, no jobs were found. With Julie and Carl busy and stressed, Leo sprinted into the kitchen, because he hated the cold hardwood floors in the morning, poured himself a cup of cereal, and sat down to eat. After Leo finished eating, he rinsed his bowl and got ready for camp.

As soon as Leo got into the car all he could think about was camp. Camp, Camp, Camp, the only thing that ever made him happy in life. Leo wished everyday to be a regular, loved kid, but god had not given him a chance to be one.

After Leo arrived at the huge campus in which the camp was located, he walked to the small cabin on the other side and saw Kevin waiting outside for him. Kevin and Leo both said “hi” to each other and went inside the cabin. They sat down and talked about the XT4000 for some time and how exactly the technological masterpiece was engineered. After talking for a while, Kevin handed a paper to Leo which read Science Bowl. Kevin explained that the science bowl was a competition for people who are smart at science to face off against each other and see who wins. The winner would get a $750,000 if they won. Leo immediately jumped on the idea and asked.
“How do I enter?”
“You have to be recommended by a previous Science Bowl Champ, which is where I come in. If you really want to compete I can recommend you!” replied Kevin.
“Yes, I want to compete.” Leo answered with an enormous smile on his face.

The rest of the day passed on normally. Just some science worksheets, a video on cells, and the occasional discussion of anything science, but Leo couldn’t stay focused. All he could think about was the Science Bowl. If Leo won it, it would be enough money to prevent his house from going into foreclosure and a little extra pocket money to keep in the bank. The question now was could he do it?

When Leo got home from the final day of camp, he explained the idea about the Science Bowl to his parents who graciously accepted it and let Leo compete. School started the next day and Leo was ready for his daily dose of bullying. As Leo arrived at school, he was tripped by Marcus, the school bully, punched a couple of times by Marcus’ gang and eventually got wedgied. There was really nothing Leo could do about Marcus. No matter how many ever times he told the office, they did nothing about the bully. Although this was a school in the Bronx, couldn’t they respect somebody a person a little smaller than them? I guess the answer was no because this
The rest of the school day went on pretty quickly with no assigned homework, so when Leo got home he started studying for the Science Bowl. According to the flier about the Science Bowl given by Kevin, it would take place on November 24, 2013, a Wednesday, at 6:30 pm at the famous Broadway stage. Since Leo only had 2 more days until the Science Bowl began, he dedicated all his free time to studying for that competition.

The 2 days leading up to the Science Bowl passed by very quickly, but at the same time Leo studied a whole 3 pounds worth of textbooks and learned many new formulas such as E=mc2. Leo was ready and felt more prepared than ever. To his pleasant surprise, Leo’s whole family, including both his brothers, came to support him.

After Leo’s family arrived at the gates of Broadway, they were escorted inside by security to the VIP stand for Leo’s family, and backstage for Leo himself. In Leo’s eyes, backstage was incredible! There were vendors everywhere giving away free popcorn, there were stacks of books for last minute studying , and 3 of contestants. Suddenly a bell struck signaling the information meeting to begin. The crew members of the tournament talked about the general information and how the tournament would be a jeopardy style game in where the person who has the most points at the end wins. Another bell sounded which signaled the start of the tournament.

The curtains were lifted and everybody got introduced by the host. All the kids including Leo walked up to their podium in which their answering devices lay. The host announced that today’s tournament would be based on Astronauts and Astronomy. For this tourney, there were 3 topics to choose from. Planets, Astronauts, and Stars. Leo was so happy that one of the topics was astronauts because he knew practically everything about them.

To start off the tournament a girl named Katie chose Stars for 300. The question was name one star which we can see in the night sky that is bigger than the sun?
“That’s a trick question.” Katie answered. “All the stars that we can see are all larger than the sun.”
“Correct!” the host said as the crowd roared with applause.
The next person to go was the shaggy haired boy standing next to Leo, Joe. Joe decided to do planets for 400, and the question was: What is the fastest rotating planet?
“Mercury,” Joe replied.
“I am sorry, but you are incorrect. The answer is Jupiter!” said the host
Now was Leo’s turn and he picked Astronauts for 500! The question was: What is the name of the first living animal in orbit?
“Laika!” Leo replied.
“I’m sorry Leo, but you are correct!” the host said.

A couple of rounds passed by and now we were down to the wire. Leo had to answer this question properly to beat out Katie for 1st place and win the Science Bowl. Leo chose astronauts for 400, and the question was: Who is american astronauts safety mascot. A drop of sweat trickled down Leo’s hair onto his face and plopped onto the floor. The crowd went silent and Leo got nervous. He couldn’t think straight. His vision got blurry, but he regained consciousness. Leo thought back to his childhood memories where the answer to the question laid. Then, it struck him!.
“Snoopy!” Leo cried.
“Correct!” the host replied. Leo was the winner of $750,000 and the 2013 Science Bowl. Leo had never felt so happy in his life. Finally, he could be proud of an accomplishment.

The next day, thanks to the money Leo earned, he saved his house from foreclosure and most importantly, his family loved him once again.


5 years later, Leo earned a scholarship to attend the Astronauts Institute of Space to train and become an astronaut all thanks to the Science Bowl.