Retired Ridgewood HS
teacher to receive award from NJ Inventors Hall of Fame
OCTOBER 22, 2015 LAST
UPDATED: THURSDAY, OCTOBER 22, 2015, 12:31 AM
BY RICARDO KAULESSAR
STAFF
WRITER |
THE MONTCLAIR TIMES
Jim Wallace is not an inventor, but he will be
getting a prestigious award given by a New Jersey organization that recognizes
people who have impacted the world with their inventions.
PHOTO COURTESY OF
MARY ANN COPP
Montclair resident Jim Wallace will be
accepting an award from the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame for the event he
founded now known as Super Science Saturday.
Today, Thursday, Oct. 22, Wallace, a Montclair
resident since 1998, will be accepting an award from the New Jersey Inventors
Hall of Fame for the science show-and-tell that he created as a teacher in 1988
in the Ridgewood School District. It’s now known as Super Science Saturday, an
annual all-day science and technology exhibition held in Ridgewood High School.
Wallace, now retired from teaching, and his
former student, MichaelAaron Flicker, who now oversees Super Science Saturday,
will both be on hand to receive the honor on behalf of the Super Science
Saturday all-volunteer Executive Committee at a gala awards dinner at the W
Hotel in Hoboken.
Wallace told The Montclair Times that he was
happy that everyone who has had a role in Super Science Saturday will be
receiving the award for "Advancement of Invention & Process," but
he was also surprised.
"So while it’s terrific that we’re being
recognized by this award, I would have never expected this in a million
years," Wallace said. "You think of an invention when you think of
why someone is being honored by the New Jersey Inventors Hall of Fame. But in
fact, we did invent a process that has sustained itself successfully for 28
years."
Wallace said the award also brings to mind the
origins of the noncompetitive event that attracts thousands of visitors every
year who get to view hundreds of exhibits by students and adults from all over
Northern New Jersey and beyond.
"I was teaching sixth grade science, and
right at start of the school year, kids would do simple experiments and show
them," Wallace said. "And we would have a night for parents to come
and see. Then one year, one of the parents said it was cool, and that I ought
to do this for the entire school."
The rest would be super science history, as
the event has grown to where there have been video conferences with scientists
doing research from as far away as the Indian Ocean, and activities such as a
paper airplane fly-off, egg drop contest, and model rocket launches.
Wallace said the honor from the Inventors Hall
of Fame also speaks to the impact of the event on young people.
"People always come up to me and tell me
how their child was inspired to go into a career in science because of Super
Science Saturday," he noted.
