Mixed Kid Eye Color

In 7th grade, we had a science fair. Most kids either phoned it in or did something visually dramatic like growing beans in a cupboard (creepy). For my project, I created a poster board that, now that I think about, was basically an explanation for why my mom and I don't look alike, starting with our eyes.

I'm mixed. I have dark brown eyes, with no variation. No hints of gold, flecks of black. Just deep, dark brown eyes. My mom is white. Her eyes are blue-grey with dashes of navy and silver. Among many other features, our eyes are part of what makes us a confusing mother-daughter pair.

So, at age 12, I set out to explain how eye color happens. It turns out to be pretty complex so I focused on the high level - recessive, dominant, etc. I painstakingly drew each eye for two parents and two children and wrote up the mixture that led those children to share or not share a parent's eye color.

I took home a blue medal and knowledge that would carry me through many conversations about why I don't look like my own parents. Both the knowledge and the medal were pretty damn satisfying!