An Evening to Remember

Thursday evening we got all gussied up and headed out to the Carolina Country Club. We didn’t know quite what to expect. All we knew was that Sam had written an essay for his math teacher. A couple of weeks ago she told him he had won a contest and there would be a banquet honoring the essay winners.

Eventually we heard this contest was sponsored by the Phi Beta Kappa Society of Wake County. We arrived at the country club a few minutes early so we wandered around a bit, peeking into various rooms and checking out the fancy bookshelves and furnishings.

checking out the country club

As we stood around making casual conversation with one of Sam’s teachers who joined us for the event, people began to trickle in to the banquet. And we began to question whether we had the right details. After all, it looked more like an AARP banquet.  

When we arrived, the greeters took one look at us and said, “You must be the Loomis family!” From that moment on, Sam was celebrity. It was surreal for us, and a bit overwhelming for Sam. One by one, very distinguished, ivy league looking strangers would walk right up to Sam, give him high compliments for his essay, and begin to ask about school, where he was looking at college, and how he wrote such an essay.

chatting with the Phi Beta Kappa chapter president and members

The rest of us just sort of faded in the background, shaking the occasional hand and getting a few “you must be so proud” comments. Gradually the room filled with all generations of Phi Beta Kappa members.  Our family had the privilege of meeting Chancellor Woodson of NC State, who exchanged Wolfpack hand-signs with Jack and promised him a spot in 2018.

Through the course of the evening, two other teens were honored for their literary essays and we learned 2011 was the fist annual math contest, so Sam is an inaugural winner. The pressure’s on for next year, and he’s already thinking about potential topics. 

A cash prize and Princeton's Companion to Mathematics.

it didn't take Sam long to dig in!

 We are pleased as punch that Sam has been honored in this way. His passion for math and learning amazes us and he truly has a gift. As Chancellor Woodson said in his keynote speech that evening, it is the minds like Sam's that will forge the way in research and analysis that will benefit society in so many ways. (Okay, he said it a lot more eloquently.)