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a 27-acre parcel in Rappahannock County six years ago. They enrolled Jim, then 12, and his brother Steven, then 6, in Rappahannock Elementary School.
Jim’s father, James Clark III (Jim is the fourth Janies Clark), is a mathematician who commutes to work in Northern Virginia. His mother, Ellie, is a charge nurse at Oak Springs, a nursing home in Warrenton.
Rappahannock Less Stressed
“I think living in Rappahannock has enabled our sons to benefit from the softer, gentler side of life,” says Mrs. Clark. “The urban areas are more stressed and competitive.”
With his parents’ constant support, Jim tapped the Rappahannock school system for everything it had to offer — which was largely some dedicated teachers who took a personal interest in Jim’s projects.
“The teachers here really care about you. At Thomas Jefferson (the renowned science school in Fairfax County), I don’t know if you could have a friendship with a teacher. Here I Was able to get the encouragement I needed. There I think I would have been just one of many,” says Jim.
Most of the other Westinghouse finalists are from prestigious private schools or , from such large magnet schools.
Jim singles out his chemistry and physics teacher, Brion Patterson, for particular praise. Mr. Patterson has taught at Rappahannock for over 20 years and directs the regional science fair. Jim says Mr. Patterson has a remarkable ability to reach everyone in his classes — not by teaching to the lowest level, as some do — but by teaching to the fastest student and ensuring that the slower students get the extra help they need to keep up.
“He comes in a 6:50 or 7 every morning, and he’s available after school. I don’t have him this year, and I really miss him,” Jim says.
English Was Weaker
Jim also lauds Vicky Eastham for superlative math instruction. He’s less enthusiastic, however, about the writing instruction he received at Rappahannock. He scored a 560 on the verbal part of the SAT when he first took it in November, ’94. This was a good score, but not as high as he had expected, given the A’s he had been receiving in his English classes.
When he ordered some SAT-prep materials, he found that he was weak in writing skills, especially in his mastery of grammar. Jim raised his SAT verbal score by an astonishing 210 points by simply studying on his own for about a year.
“He’s not a grind,” says his father. “He actually studies very little, to be quite honest.” For the SATs, “he just studied enough to iron out some of his weak points.” , -
Jim’s final SAT math score was 790. His composite SAT score was 1560, or almost perfect. Yet Jim shrugs off the idea that he is in a cate
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