Academy of Applied Science
SPARKS:2002

Readers' Forum

Thank you so very much for the wonderful words of praise and recognition that were given on my behalf in the 4th quarter edition of Sparks 2001. As always, it is never just one person who is responsible for a major contribution. Another person who deserves to be recognized as co-founder of the New Hampshire Young Inventors' Program," is Linda Harris. Linda died of pancreatic cancer in September 2000. She was the science and mathematics coordinator for the Hollis Elementary Schools. Prior to that, she was their Gifted Education Coordinator. When I met her, she was teaching junior high science in Nashua and had her students involved each year in inventing.

Linda was one of the brightest women I have ever worked with. She never did things halfway, but always put her own needs aside to help other people. An example was when Linda learned she was terminally ill in January 2000; we continued to work until the end of the school year.

She kept going through the chemotherapy and the excruciating abdominal pain. She kept going even though her father died shortly after she fell ill. She kept going because she wanted to be where she mattered the most-at the school.
Linda worked beyond what most people would or could have. She made a quiet difference in the lives of those around her. She was a private person and did not like to attract a lot of attention to herself. But she changed the lives of her peers and of her students. It is my hope that the Young Inventors' Program" will honor Linda by
creating an award in her name.

--Joyce Kenne, YIP Consortium Member

?

?

?

?

?

?

?