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20th Sep 2017

Eight year old bullied for love of bugs lands a spot in scientific journal

We love this!

Louise Carroll

This little girl is testimony to the fact that all kids’ loves and fascinations need to be encouraged.

Eight-year-old Sofia Spencer is a little girl from Ontario Canada who is absolutely fascinated with bugs.

For many people finding a job or hobby that they love so much takes years, but Sophia was one of the lucky ones. She knew she had a knack for the outdoors and insects at an incredibly young age.


However, schoolmates and bullies found her fascination with the creatures odd and yuck and Sophia ended up being bullied for bringing her insects to school.

Sophia’s mum, Nicole Spencer knew something had to be done because she was fearful her little girl would stop doing what she loved.

Mum decided to write a letter to the Entomological Society of Canada (ESC) asking for suggestions on how to nurture her daughter’s passion. Little did she know how big things would get from here.


Nicole’s email was forwarded to Morgan Jackson who runs ESC’s social media platforms and he took to tweeting the email to his colleagues.

From here, the inspiration, support and encouragement absolutely plummeted for Sophia.


Later in the year, Jackson decided he would write a scientific paper on the experience focusing on how social media can make such a difference. Just this month it was published in the Annals of the Entomological Society of America, AND best of all, little Sophia got the spot of co-author. A very BIG deal indeed!


Not only was her obsession and enthusiasm for insects amplified, she’s now pretty much a full-blown scientist! We can be sure this is one giant step in the right direction for an eight-year-old who wants to pursue her very cool and important goals.

Topics:

Kids