Hunter Scott

       When Hunter Scott, age 9, watched Jaws, he intently gazed in awe at the scene where a captain is explaining his spine-tingling experience on the Indianapolis. Hunter asked his dad if it was a real sinking and his dad replied that it was and that he should consider that as a topic for the school science fair. The theme for the fair was "Tragedy and Triumph" so Hunter adopted that idea saying that it was a perfect topic. Hunter could find very little information about the topic so he put an advertisement in the local paper looking for survivors and their stories. One survivor replied and gave his heartbreaking story to the child along with a list of all the survivors with their addresses and phone numbers. Hunter put together three spiral notebooks full of information from over 80 of the survivors with pictures of the ship and letters written and received by the crew members. Hunter found that it was quite unfair how McVay was treated and took in a quest of clearing McVay's name. He won the school, as well as the county, science fair, but a slight infraction of the rules disqualified him from going any farther. Hunter was determined to succeed on his quest and would not let his age get in the way.
      I thought that Hunter's pure passion to clear McVay's name was priceless and touching. Hunter never met Captain McVay, but still was charged with the same drive that all who knew McVay and wanted to clear his name had. Hunter's sense of right and wrong and maturity was really surprising because of how old he was at the time. The author raises a point of saying that Hunter was very smart and had a leader-type personality and I agree with that theory. Hunter seemed like he had a natural ability to lead and persuade. I feel that what Hunter is doing for McVay is really kind and considerate.