Seniors follow trail blazed by juniors

Those of you at home may not know the state staff (Empress Lauren, Washington History Man Mark, Loaner Minion Hallie, and I) try to cheer on each and every Washington student at their judge time. (Documentaries & performances are our priority, but we try to wish students good luck before paper, Web site, and exhibit interviews.)

Sometimes, though, the schedule (and the University of Maryland's huge, beautiful campus) doesn't cooperate. Today was one of those days: 13 of our 16 senior projects were presented between 10-11:40 am. So we apologized to those we just couldn't attend (4 11 o'clock interviews?!?!) and fanned out across campus to cheer on our team.

Paper contestant Lynette (Stanwood) & Lauren chat before her interview.

Connor, Austin, & Adam review their Web site minutes before meeting with the judges.

Justine gets some last-minute words of wisdom from her grandmother, Connie.

Mikael's exhibit is about the bicycle; he's also a wilderness responder!

Prosser's powerhouse trio (Alana, Braydon, & Amanda) gave a spot-on performance about the radio.

Set breakdown is a team sport. WOOSH!

The first time-slot after lunch is often stressful, but Sarah seemed calm as can be. Of course, she knows everything there is to know about the marine chronometer, so why worry?

Abby & Ceri gave a knock-out performance. Though Ceri told the judges that Abby's really "the actress," the audience--and judges--beg to differ. They're both phenomenal and will perform in the FINAL ROUND on Wednesday.

Stanwood's History Day team poses after their judge interviews (teacher Sabrina Shaw in front).

Tian & Anand are 2/3 of the lovely, brilliant, & ridiculously overachieving documentary team from Redmond High School.

Senior individual documentary FINALIST Samantha was the only Washington finalist actually present for finals postings. The other three kids (Nathan, Abby, & Ceri) headed off to the Crime & Punishment Museum because they were so nervous.

Yes, that's right. Our seniors ended up with the exact same results as our juniors: both individual documentaries and one group performance advanced to finals! Congratulations, all! GO WASHINGTON!!