The writing and artistic talents of fourth-grader Trey Huffmaster brought Professor Barry Rice all the way from California to Clarkdale Attendance Center Wednesday morning.

    Rice has become well known as a botanist because of his fascination with what he likes to call “monster plants.” He travels the world studying carnivorous plants like venus flytraps, pitcher plants and sundew plants.

    “Being a scientist is like an adventure,” Rice said. “Who knows what you’re going to find when you’re doing science.”

    Happily taking the many questions from several curious children, he encouraged them to ask their questions and do what it takes to find the answers. Christie Goodman, a fourth grade teacher at Clarkdale, shares the same views on learning and expressing this enthusiastic thirst for knowledge.

    Goodman has been working on research projects with her class, and the monster plant study is what began this adventure. She discovered Scholastic’s Super Science “Meet My Monster Plant” Contest and encouraged her class to work hard on entries for it.

    Students had to submit a drawing of what they considered was a monster plant and a paragraph explaining why they thought it qualified for a monster plant. The deadline for the contest was in March, and they impatiently waited to find out the results.

    On April 6, Huffmaster received the congratulatory letter telling him he was the grand prize winner for his entry on kudzu. His award included the classroom visit from Rice along with every book offered in Scholastic’s Winter/Spring 2010 Advance with Math & Science catalog, which has an estimated value of $2,500, and all of his classmates got a copy of Rice’s book as well.

    Wednesday morning, the students enjoyed the photographs and adventure stories that Rice shared with them. However, the day did not end with his presentation — the kids also celebrated the win with a pizza party and book signing.