There are lots of different stories where kids are really thinking about their own lives and interests. The idea is not all kids may become scientists, but all kids will be impacted by science.

Kids that do well often have more connections than kids who didn't have connections. Sometimes it's just an email mentor to bounce ideas off of.

We try to serve a wide range of kids' needs, future scientists as well as kids who just want to try it out.

When we began thinking about this year's parade and what had happened in New Orleans we realized we were two cities that had experienced trauma. After all the grief New Orleans had, they have not been able to stage their jazz funeral. We realized we could provide the venue.

When Chuck would get some bubble gum in he would save it until Halloween to give out to the kids, ... In those days, we never had many trick-or-treaters, but when word spread that Chuck had bubble gum, we were swarmed with kids and ran out of candy.

Clearly, if we don't ... make a difference, if we don't expose kids to a number of opportunities are we creating a situation that won't change? And are we losing any of these kids who may go into the prison system or may tax society in other ways?