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Recognition for Jim Wallace

NORTHJERSEY.COM : NEWS : EDUCATION

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.