When Humble Is Frowned Upon

So what stands out about Ali when it comes to science over the last two years?   I tried not to put any pressure on her by pretending to scrape something off my mouse pad. Sarah breathed in softly looking down and shifted uncomfortably in her seat.   I laid my hand on her leg gently to off set my frustrated voice tone, Sarh, don’t be so modest, we have to fill out this summer genius application or Ali is going to be wasting away all summer long again in this little stuffy apartment.   Sarah looked up at me a little hurt “stuffy?”,   Ok, not stuffy, you air it out all the time, but you know what I mean,   Ali had such a hard time last summer, and hes like   nine now, so you need to work with me.  
Sarah took a deep breath in and raised her head and met my eyes “he is smart”. I rolled my eyes shaking my head to the side. Sarah, I don’t think they the summer committee   would appreciate   under accomplishemtns that his mom thinks her son is smart is going to impress them. He has to stick out from the rest of the kids, theres like hundreds if not thousands of kids trying to get into this summer camp.  
I’m sure Sarah could sense my frustration, not because I was on a time line, but because she wasn’t really making this easy.   I gritted my teeth trying to come up with another direction.   OK, what cool science projects has been doing in the kitchen, I remember you told me that he had made a cool volcano thingy the other week.   Sarah’s eyes lit up and she smiled proudly. I tried to catch the wave of her excitement quickly jumping on the board ‘ok, so wasn’t that a fantastic accomplimene? Tell me about it. I could tell she was trying to formulate something to say but lost it after a few seconds.   What is up with you Sarah, what is the big deal?   Why can’t you say something about Ali, I know your so proud of him and you love him so much, why can’t you help him?  
She sighed resigning herself, “your going to think I am stupid”, No I’m not, yes you will, what ever gave you that...