momtofour: definitely helpful! Thanks very much. I'm not really interested in going since it sounds to me like just a campus tour and a meeting where each kid is called to stage to get a medal or something. And my son doesn't care about biology so the talk is probably not that useful to him. Plus traveling is a hassle. But he wants to go just because it's neat. In terms of academic recognition, he didn't get much (if any) in the past; but this past year he's got lots of recognition. :-)