I was halfway through my sentence explaining to Kate how excited I was to meet Mark when he just breezed into the room at Settlers High School last Thursday morning. He greeted everyone as he made his way towards the back before introducing himself to me. And that’s how I met my other “boss”.

Guess you thought that fireworks exploded, trumpets sounded and banners flew as he made an entrance with some wicked soundtrack playing in the background? Sorry, no such luck. The billionaire is just a pretty cool dude and was easy-going throughout the day despite juggling interviews, an excited TV presenter, delicious snacks and learners keen to talk to that guy who was the first African in space. I was just happy to finally meet him. I told everyone there that I’ve been with Hip2b² for more than a year and this was the first time I’d met the dude in charge.

The science fair itself was excellent considering the learners had two weeks to put their projects together. I was at the school the previous Friday filming for the TV show and the guys and girls were very enthusiastic and explained their projects to me with pride. I discovered later that I would be judging the science fair and had no idea how difficult that that task would be. My fellow judges and I had a tough time but managed to choose a winner in the end. Mark went through every project and made suggestions on how the experiments could be expanded, possible pitfalls and all the science in between. Turns out he’s as clever as we all expected him to be.

So, what did I take away from the experience? A photo. Yes, I have a photo of Mark and me. I might sell it one day and donate the proceeds to charity or I’ll pass it on to my grandchildren. I also took away a good memory of someone who started the organisation I represent because he wanted to prove that geeks are cool, that learning is a super power we all have, money isn’t everything and scientists aren’t stuffy old people, but rather Hip young people who dare 2 B ².