Hoffmann of the Month: July

Whitney Houston believed the children were our future. That may have been true when the song was released in 1986, but children aren't Dippin' Dots, the harbinger of a future that will never arrive. In 2012, the children are no longer our future--they're our right friggin' now!

Case in point (or cases, rather): two youngsters, Dylan and Jordan, who achieved greatness last Spring, earning them the distinction of Co-Hoffmanns of the Month for July. It's the first time the illustrious award has been shared in its 14-month history.

(Quick: before reading on, guess the gender of Dylan and Jordan. There's one of each. This child-dominated future-present we've arrived in has some drawbacks, including a huge uptick in androgynous names.)

Back in May, Dylan Hoffman won the Doodle 4 Google contest with that sweet pirate design pictured above, netting himself some sweet scholarship cash and a day on the Google homepage. There were over 100 thousand entries from all grade levels K-12, but in true "Hoffmann of the Month" fashion Dylan kicked all of their butts even though he's only in the 2nd grade.

A few weeks later the Scripps National Spelling Bee was held. I'm an experienced speller, having won my school bee in 5th grade and performed admirably in a Broadway spelling bee. The little girl who bested me on Broadway (read the links, it's an amusing story) must be of competitive spelling age by now, but I fear she'd be no match for our other co-H of the M, Jordan Hoffman, a finalist in this year's bee.

Check this out--they have a round-by-round breakdown of each speller's words, including the misspelling that ousted them from the competition. Jordan was the first finalist eliminated, but that was still good for 9th place overall--pretty impressive.

Even more impressive? This snarky column I found about the final round, which was pretty complimentary towards Ms. Hoffman, calling her "a real maverick" and "a little too normal" for competitive spelling, and giving her an "exit score" of 10/10.

Congrats, Dylan and Jordan! With up-and-coming Hoffmans like you, it seems our present and future are in good hands.