Local teen a big winner in 'Clues' series
One thing Nicole Gregorczyk can never be accused of is being clueless.
The 14-year-old Prospect Heights resident was recently named one of the $500 winners in The 39 Clues multimedia book adventure.
The series is created by Scholastic Inc., the global children's publishing, education and media company. It combines books, cards and online gaming, in which participants hunt for clues and are eligible to win prizes.
The 39 Clues revolves around the Cahills-the most powerful family the world has ever known. But the source of the family's power has been lost. Grace Cahill, the last matriarch of the Cahills, changed her will minutes before she died, leaving her descendants an impossible decision: receive $1 million or a clue. The first Cahill to assemble all 39 clues hidden around the world will discover what makes the family so powerful.
Participants like Gregorczyk join one of the four branches of the Cahill family to begin the hunt. They read the books for background and then go online and look for clues. Each book contains one clue, and only three books have been published thus far.
Gregorczyk was one of 66 second-round winners, who were awarded prizes totaling $8,150.
Nicole has had quite a bit of success in contests, having also won the "You Be the Chemist Challenge," sponsored by UOP of Des Plaines,
When asked how she plans to spend the money, she said, "I'm probably going to buy an iPod. I could really use it. Because I do a lot of dancing, it would be a big help if I could download the music."
Nicole's mother, Shirley, said her daughter did a lot of research for this contest.
"There were times when she would say, 'I can't get this question,' and she would sit down and think about it (and) say, 'I got it. I can do it now.'" Shirley said.
It was a display of intelligence that is consistent with her history. Nicole, who will attend John Hersey High School next year, has consistently made honor roll.
Shirley said her daughter's interest in the series began as part of her classes at St. Paul Lutheran School in Mount Prospect.
"They started discussing the book there," she said. "Through that interest, she started buying the series of books."
Nicole said her computer and e-workshop (which stands for "excellence-workshop, a class designed to spark students' creativity through a variety of projects) teacher introduced The 39 Clues to the class after the students finished their projects.
Nicole said her knowledge of history helped in discovering the clues.
"There are history elements and science elements that are mixed in. If you know them, you will get clues a lot quicker than maybe other kids," she said.