Best Test Answer, Ever.

As most of you know, I’m a Pittsburgher transplanted to Eastern North Carolina. Growing up around the ‘burgh, you hear a lot about sports legends of the area, particularly of the 1960’s and 70’s. Family members speak fondly of the likes of Terry Bradshaw, Franco Harris, Willie Stargell, Lynn Swann, Bill Mazeroski, the list goes on. But one name stands out above the others: Roberto Clemente. The right field wall in PNC Park stands 21 feet tall to honor him (he wore #21 and played RF) and the bridge crossing the Allegheny River beyond the outfield wall of stadium was renamed the Roberto Clemente Bridge. There is even a huge statue of him standing just outside of the PNC Park. Pittsburgh is full of rightful remembrances of a man who’s Hall of Fame career was cut short by a tragic plane crash while delivering supplies to earthquake stricken Nicaragua on New Year’s Eve of 1972. There’s so much to say about Clemente that it could fill up multiple blog posts on its own.

My wife, a fifth grade teacher, decided to teach a unit on Roberto Clemente. I think it’s awesome to be spreading a story about a Pittsburgh sports icon to kids here in Eastern NC who likely never heard of him. What’s cooler is what the students took away from the story. Check out this answer that a girl wrote on her worksheet-

Sometimes kids can make the most profound comments. The answer that the sheet was looking for was something along the lines of ‘He was going to Nicaragua to help deliver supplies to earthquake victims.’ But how can you mark something like this wrong?

My wife sent me this cell phone picture of the test in the afternoon and I shared it on Twitter. By that evening it had nearly 100 retweets, something that never happens to stuff I post. The next day, it found it’s way onto Pittsburgh Magazine’s website. Thanks to everyone who took interest in this, it goes to show that the right answer is not always the best answer.