By Lori Carlson

Editor

Mason Green will never forget how to spell “longicollous” (meaning to have a long beak or neck).

That word eliminated him from the National Spelling Bee in 2004. But Green, now 18, earned 16th place in the Mason Green is a senior at Prior
Lake High School with interests in
math, politics and history. (Photo
by Lori Carlson)national competition and a cameo in the film “Akeelah and the Bee,” starring Laurence Fishburne and Angela Bassett.

A senior at Prior Lake High School, Green – who has Asperger’s Syndrome, a form of autism – has a keen interest in politics, history and math. He points out that many people believe several famous scientists, including Marie Curie and Carl Sagan, were autistic.

Green is considering attending college at either Augsburg College in Minneapolis or Hamline University in St. Paul. He’s not sure what career path he ultimately will take, but “it will probably be something unusual that involves the use of knowledge in a variety of areas,” he says.

Green is a member of the Knowledge Bowl team, which took sixth place in the state last year. He’s also involved in Junior Optimist Club and Eco People. He had hoped to volunteer his time with the newly proposed Culture Club at the high school, but not enough people have stepped forward at this time, he said.

“I hope more people will volunteer. I love learning about different cultures,” he says.

Green is particularly fond of Mexico, where he traveled with his Spanish class. He lives in Prior Lake with his parents, Tamara Loring and Forrest Green, and his brother, Daron, 10.

Every Saturday, Green maintains aquariums at West Metro Learning Connections, a school in Excelsior. Green was a student there and said he was asked to set up the aquariums because fish seemed to help calm some students.

“I became interested in fish a long, long time ago,” he said.

This November, Green will be the only student election judge in town. He was a judge trainee last year, and as soon as he turned 18, he signed up to be an official judge.

“I’ve always had an interest in politics. I want to be a socially aware person,” he said.

Q and A with

Mason Green

What do you like about living in Prior Lake?

I like the people I’ve met. The high school is more personal.

What three words would people use to describe you?

Funny, smart and talkative.

Who is your favorite singer?

Weird Al. He makes fun of everything, but there’s also a point in his lyrics.

If you could meet someone famous or from history, who would it be?

Barack Obama. I would tell him how much he’s inspired me to think differently about issues in politics and history. I’d also like to meet Archimedes [a Greek mathematician and physicist]. He was kind of like me. He was absent-minded in that he was so focused on his research that he’d forget what he was doing.

What’s the last good book you read?

“The Audacity of Hope” by Obama. He writes so well.

What was your best vacation?

Mexico. I love the culture, the language and the food, of course.

If you could go anywhere in the world, where would you go?

I know how to count to 10 and say “hi” in Swahili, so I guess I should go to Kenya.

If you were governor or president for a day, what would you do?

I’d try to convince people to stop fighting and get along with each other and recognize we all have things in common, and we all want the same things.

Lori Carlson can be reached at (952) 345-6378 or editor@plamerican.com.