“I know him,” Maya broke in, “he was a great singer and an actor. He appeared on Broadway.”
“And he fought for the civil rights of minority groups, too,” Gabby pointed out.
“He was a great football player, too,” Cooper added.
“But he never gave up even though the odds were against him. And neither did Albert Schatz,” Mr. C went on.
“Albert Schatz?” a chorus of voices asked. “Who’s that?”
“He was a graduate student working by himself in a research lab at Rutgers back in the 1940s,” Mr. C explained. “He conducted over 10,000 experiments trying to find a cure for a disease scientists didn’t think would ever be cured. It took him years but he found the first drug to really cure tuberculosis and saved millions of people around the world!”
“My grandmother told me about a Rutgers professor she had.” Gabby paused, trying to think of the professor’s name. “Ruth something something.”
“Ruth Bader Ginsburg,” Mr. C said.
“That’s it!” Gabby cried. “My grandmother had Ruth Bader Ginsburg in a women and the law course and she’s now a Supreme Court judge.”
“And those three aren’t the only ones at Rutgers to overcome obstacles to achieve their goals and so will we!”
This time the New Jersey Trackers came together to proclaim that they were determined to plant the Imagination Tree seeds even if the Jersey Devil appeared in person to stop them. The bookmobile pulled to the curb on College Avenue in New Brunswick.
The Trackers and Mr. C tumbled out of the bus and hurried to the lawn in front of Old Queens, the building where the school administration offices were located. Even though the sky was dark and threatening, the entire area was busy with people. The marching band was playing a lively tune across the street on the mall.
“The planting committee is supposed to meet us on the lawn in front of Old Queens,” Mr. C explained, searching the crowd for a familiar face. “They’ll show us where the seeds are to be planted.”
“Speaking of the seeds, Mr. C,” said Chelsea, “you still have them, right?”
