Posted on 09/30/2015 12:23:59 PM PDT by nickcarraway
On April 23, 2013, Kiera Wilmot conducted a volcano experiment in her Polk County high-school hallway. The 16-year-old junior, who was working on the project for her science class, watched as a lid popped off and smoke seeped out. No one was hurt and no property was damaged in the experiment.
But Wilmot's project came just eight days after the Boston Marathon bombing, and school officials sternly led her into the principals office. She was told she had made a bomb and was handcuffed and escorted to a juvenile detention center. She was charged with two felonies: possession of a weapon on school property and discharging a destructive device.
I remember I was in shock and just started crying, Wilmot recalls. I was called a terrorist, and people tell me that Im on the no-fly list even to this day.
Earlier this month, Wilmot was shocked when she heard that another high-school student was arrested after making a clock that he showed to his teacher. Like Wilmot, 14-year-old freshman Ahmed Mohamed had taken to school a science project that school officials mistook as a bomb. Ahmed was handcuffed and arrested after he built a digital clock from a pencil case.
The news was disappointing to Wilmot. She had hoped that after her story received international coverage, no other student would have to experience what she endured. I know exactly what hes going through, Wilmot says. Its scary, but he has a lot of support. He is two years younger than I was when that happened, so he needs it, and Im glad everyone is supporting him. But I wish I had all the support that Ahmed has.
Wilmot says felony charges against her were dropped, but she still had to complete 20 hours of community service, undergo a psychiatric evaluation, and finish her junior year at an alternative school.
She returned the next school year, but students would gossip behind her back. A few said, Next time you blow up the school, make sure you tell me not to be there first, Wilmot says. I felt pretty awkward.
Whereas Ahmed has received offers to visit Harvard and MIT, applying to college was tense for Wilmot. On every application, she had to tick the box informing schools that she had been arrested, and retell her story. It really scared me. I thought no school was going to take me, she says.
Now, Wilmot studies mechanical engineering at Florida Polytechnic University in Central Florida. Shes just a sophomore but hopes to join the U.S. Air Force and one day work for NASA the same dream as Ahmed. President Obama has invited Ahmed to attend the White House Astronomy Night on October 19, an evening when students meet with leaders in science to promote careers in the field.
No one has reached out to me yet, she says. I would love to attend Astronomy Night.
Sorry Kiera, you gots white people problems.
Don’t expect media sympathy, or even objectivity.
So she actually created something of a scientific nature. Clockmed, not so much...
“On April 23, 2013, Kiera Wilmot conducted a volcano experiment in her Polk County high-school hallway.”
Ugh.... when I went to school rule #1 of the science fair was: NO VOLCANOS.
They’re not “experiments”, and they teach almost nothing about science. They’re just arts and crafts really.
And the kid who ate his Pop Tart into the shape of a pistol. He wants to go to Astronomy Night too.
Gotta be a muzzie also.
Wow, she built a volcano from scratch? How’d she get the tectonic plates to move on her command? She must be GOD!!
As my daughter was told by one of her Inner City Minority “student”, you are where you are because of White Privilege.
Shut up and take it!
Sorry sweetie, your not Muslim therefore you don’t get invited to the White House..now if you get shot by a cop you will have protests in your honor
IF these folks had been building bombs and the authorities did nothing, there really would be holy hell. I am not sure what the big deal is. These kids were stupid for not understanding their actions may reasonably be mistaken for something more sinister. The kids clock looks more like a bomb.
If this bright young lady were Muslum, she would be a superstar.
I think you’re thinking earthquake.
I worked in a ghetto school in Bryan TX.
I was told “My momma says I don’t have to listen to you because you’re white”.
It was then that the very last scale fell from my eyes.
It’s a war, and civilization is losing.
I have many retorts your daughter could offer back but she may not want to utter them herself. My patience for these activist people is wearing thin.
During my Sophomore HS year, my Science Project blew up 3 times, none intentional. Once at school during initial class demonstration (more of a bad leak), twice at home after “enhancements” for regional and state competition.
Had the 2nd home explosion happened at school, it might have tuned out differently. It embedded a Lexan Disk 8” diameter into a cinderblock wall of the basement. That might have ended badly in a room full of kids.
Among Lessons Learned, Pounds per Square inch become much more significant when moving up from a 2.5” turbine to an 8”.
Ocean Thermal Energy Conversion. I’m still disappointed it hasn’t been adopted by the renew energy crowd...
Maybe she should do that for her next experiment.
About the overarching theme of this story though: other posters are right. Time has past for a young black woman to play the victim card. That was sooo 1990’s/2000’s. Now is the time of the Muslim victim! Allu achbar!
Sorry Shaniqua!
White privilege means having to adhere to standards of decorum, deportment, behavior, and performance with no special considerations.
Melanin-enhanced privilege means you can pretty much get away with any behavior, even coldly-calculated bomb hoaxes conspired with your politically activist family, and be rewarded for by the President of the United States and other (formerly) respected organizations.
I remember doing a science club demonstration of various types of homemade explosives and a flour mixture blew the lid off a paint can hard enough it broke two of the overheat fluorescent lamps. That’s a double violation right there! (And no, the EPA hazmat team was NOT called in!)
-PJ
Is that for realz? Damn! It’s worse than I thought.
This was not a science project, nor was it a volcano. It was also not done indoors, but outside on campus grounds.
http://www.freerepublic.com/focus/f-news/3014957/posts
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/05/01/kiera-wilmot-arrested-science-experiment_n_3194768.html
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