The Eighth Grade Leaf Collection
6 December 2004
When I was in eighth grade, we had two major science projects; one in the fall and one in the spring. The project in the fall was a leaf collection and the project in the spring was bug collection. It always seemed silly to me that the leaf collection was in the fall when the leaves were browning and falling from the trees and that the bug collection was in the spring when the population of bugs was the thinnest, but that’s the way it was. (I learned years later the reason for this was because we were supposed to be studying simpler organisms in the fall leading up to more complex ones in the spring.)
For each project, we were to go out and collect as many different leaves (or bugs) as possible and then look up and label them with their scientific names. If I remember right, there were a minimum number of correctly identified leaves (or bugs) required for an A, B, C, D, or F. Of course, extra credit was given if you had unusual leaves (or bugs). Since we all lived in the same part of the Midwest, pretty much everyone’s leaf (or bug) collection had the same boring specimens. Of course, there were people in town who had the occasional odd tree and it was always a goal to get leaves from their trees (whether by permission or not). I did well on the leaf project. But since I absolutely do not like bugs, I didn’t do so well on the bug project.
My baby stepsister is quite a bit younger than me and since she joined our family after I moved away, I have a vague idea of how old she is, but can never exactly remember. However, I knew that she should be in about eighth grade this year and as fall approached, I started thinking about the infamous eighth grade leaf collection: Did they even do it anymore? I wondered. The teacher I had for eighth grade science retired some years ago and so I wasn’t sure. But I thought if they did, wouldn’t it be cool if I would sent her some wacky leaves from German trees to stick in her collection? Imagine all the extra credit she would get!
For about a week I was obsessed with the idea and wandered around looking at all the trees here making notes of which ones looked different than your run-of-the-mill Iowa tree variety. I had picked out about 5 specimens, when I brought up the idea to A. My bubble was burst when he said he didn’t think I would be able to send leaves to the US. After doing a bit of research, I found he was right: They have pretty strict rules about importing plant life into the US. I was a little sad, but since I hadn’t yet mentioned anything to my stepsister about my leaf importing plans was relieved that I wouldn’t have to disappoint her.
Then a couple weeks later, I called home to wish everyone a Happy Thanksgiving and while talking to my stepmom I learned an important fact: If I had indeed been able to send the leaves, it would have been in vain: My (baby!) stepsister is in ninth grade this year!
