Final Exam

By John Foltin

With college tuitions rising and student loans taking longer to pay off, a billionaire steps in and creates a contest. The prize for the 100 winners: student loans paid in full plus a trip around the world.
Join us on this educational journey as we follow 10 of these winners. They have one final exam to take. They will learn that not all lessons in life can be taught from a book.
It also includes "Unforgettable", a short story written by one of the characters.

• Language: English
• Publisher: John Foltin
• Release date: Apr 26, 2012
• ISBN: 9781476232096

John Foltin

I got my Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science from Ohio University. I am currently employed as a CSR.I don't claim to be as good as Stephen King, Jackie Collins or Tom Clancy. I probably will never come remotely close to them. I simply like to write for the fun of it.

Book preview

Final Exam

Published by John Foltin at Smashwords

Copyright 2012 John Foltin

Cover Art by Donna Casey

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

This e-book is licensed for your personal enjoyment only. This e-book may not be re-sold or given away to other people. If you would like to share this book with another person, please purchase an additional copy for each recipient. If you’re reading this book and did not purchase it, or it was not purchased for your use only, then please return to Smashwords.com and purchase your own copy. Thank you for respecting the hard work of this author.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

CHAPTER ONE

CHAPTER TWO

CHAPTER THREE

CHAPTER FOUR

CHAPTER FIVE

CHAPTER SIX

CHAPTER SEVEN

CHAPTER EIGHT

CHAPTER NINE

CHAPTER TEN

CHAPTER ELEVEN

CHAPTER TWELVE

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

CHAPTER FOURTEEN

KEYS TO SUCCESS

ANSWER KEY

UNFORGETTABLE

He Said

She Said

They Said

CHAPTER ONE

It all started with a simple newscast in January 2011. There was a story about the decline in graduation rates from universities and how hard it was for recent graduates to find work. It was followed by talking about the massive debts that students had from loans they took out to go to college and how long it would take them to pay them off.

Why was this one newscast so important? Because it was watched by Alfred Wellington III. He was the son of Alfred Wellington II, the billionaire owner of one of the largest petroleum companies in the world. He had inherited the company and his father’s vast fortune recently after his father lost his battle with prostate cancer.

He was a graduate of Harvard, receiving his Master’s Degree in International Business.

He was different from his father in one aspect. His father was only interested in making money at the expense of others. He was more interested in helping others.

When he saw this report, he saw an opportunity to use his newfound fortune to help those who needed it.

He couldn’t help everyone, as much as he wanted to. So, he came up with a way to help those who were graduating and give incentive to those still learning.

He came up with a contest. There would be a test given to anyone who wanted to take it. The top male and female score from each of the fifty states would win a spectacular prize. Since Wyoming only had one four-year college, he included the District of Columbia.

The criteria: You had to be graduating in the spring of that year or had graduated in that school year from a four-year institute. You had to have a cumulative GPA greater than 3.0.

The prize: Each person would win an all-expense paid trip around the world, visiting many major educational sites. Each person would win a ten thousand dollar gift card to spend as they saw fit. Most important to Alfred, each person would have his/her student loans paid in full.

He wanted to be able to include students with many different kinds of majors. He considered this when making his test.

As spring quarter started across the United States, all eligible students were made aware of this opportunity. Those that accepted would take the test on March 28. They were not told the content of the test, just that it covered a broad range of education.

Auditoriums were filled with students. The test had a time limit of five hours. Cellphones were prohibited in the testing area. Each student received a booklet with eleven questions. The first ten questions each had a max of ten points. Question eleven was a tie-breaker.

Question one: List all of the plays by William Shakespeare. There were thirty-eight blanks, one for each of the plays. For each correct answer, you received a portion of the ten allotted points.

Question two: List all of the sports that were in competition from the 2008 Summer Olympics and 2010 Winter Olympics. There were fifty-six blanks, one for each sport.

Question three: Name the bones in the human body. There were fifty-seven blanks, separated into different parts of the body.

Question four: Name fifty of the top hundred most profitable businesses of 2010. There were fifty blanks.

Question five: Name the men that were elected to or appointed to the office of President and/or Vice President. There were seventy-seven blanks.

Question six was a series of twenty-five math questions, ranging from simple algebra to calculus.

Question seven: Name the artist. There were twenty pictures of paintings along with their name, and the students had to write down who painted it.

Question eight: Name the books of the Old and New Testament. There were sixty-six blanks.

Question nine: Name the elements from the Periodic Table. A copy of the periodic table took up the entire page. The symbols were there, but blanks were left to fill in the name of the one hundred eighteen elements.

Question ten: Name the countries of the world. There were one hundred ninety-nine blanks, as well as a map of the world. The question would be scored according to how the student chose to list the countries of the United Kingdom, whether as a group or individually.

Final question: Why should we choose you? In case of a tie, this was how the choice would be made.

A number of people walked out on the test midway through. For some, it was just too much for them. For others, the religious question offended them.

Five hours later, the tests were collected and sent to a facility for grading. With as many tests as there were to grade, this would not be a quick process.

A few weeks later, all the tests were graded. Each university had its top male and female. In some cases, there were ties. In that case, those were sent to Alfred to judge using the last question. In most cases, it involved massive loan debts that needed to be paid, some more than one hundred thousand dollars.

With this test, there were no perfect scores. In fact, the top score was only a 93.8. To get an eighty on this test was an accomplishment.

Once the one hundred winners were determined, letters were sent out. They would be flown to San Antonio for the first destination. The only request was that they wear a T-shirt of their college to Texas. They were told to bring clothes for all climates.

On June 20, they all met. Among them were Daniel and Danielle Conley, a brother and sister attending Weber State and the University of Denver, respectively. For the sake of the story, we will concentrate on a select group.

Christopher Boyd was voted Class Clown at Upper St. Clair High School. He was also a member of the Science Club. However, he struggled in college. In fact, he almost flunked out after two quarters. He eventually got serious and graduated from Case Western Reserve University with a degree in Chemical Engineering.

Patricia van der Werf was captain of the Debate Team at Kenyon-Wanamingo High School. She was also voted Most Likely to Succeed. She graduated from Northwestern University with a degree in Pre-Law.

Douglas Forbes was Senior Class President at C.K. McClatchy High School. He was President of Pi Sigma Alpha fraternity at Stanford University. He lost his bid for Senior Class President. He graduated with a degree in Political Science.

Leigh McElvain was a four-year letterer in cross country, swimming, and track at Shawnee Heights High School. She was given a full athletic scholarship to the University of Kansas. However, her sophomore year, she suffered an injury that prevented her from ever being a competitive swimmer again. As a result, she lost her scholarship. She still managed to graduate with a degree in Secondary Education with an emphasis in English.

Chadwick Newton was a member of the Young Republicans Club at John F. Kennedy High School. He was the type of student who would use someone whenever he needed help, then discarded them when they were no longer of service. His idol was Donald Trump. It was only natural that he would graduate with a degree in International Business from Penn.

Kristen Dougherty was head cheerleader at Robert A. Millikan High School. She was also Senior Class Secretary, Homecoming Queen, and Prom Queen. She was also a finalist in the Miss Teen California Pageant. At the University of Southern California, she was a cheerleader and a news anchor for the campus’s television station. She was also a leader of Pi Beta Phi. She graduated with a degree in Broadcast Journalism.

She was never the type who was able to keep a boyfriend. She wore a purity ring on her necklace, a sign that she was saving herself for marriage. When guys knew that they couldn’t score with her, they left her.

Richard Thumberg was salutatorian from Kenyon-Wanamingo High School and a classmate of Patricia’s. In high school, he was very studious. However, when he arrived at Bemidji State, he underwent a total transformation. He became a vegetarian. He tried to go vegan, but wasn’t able to give up dairy. He would organize rallies on issues like the war in Afghanistan or government-run healthcare. In short, he became a hippie that