Friday, June 8, 2001
Friday, June 8, 2001 |
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McIntosh sixth at Science Olympiad The McIntosh High School Science Olympiad team took sixth place at the national Science Olympiad competition May 19 in Colorado Springs. Competing in 23 events that span the sciences, from cell biology to astrophysics, team members also collected individual medals in six events. The sixth-place medal for nationals comes on the heels of the team's first-place finish at Georgia's state Science Olympiad competition April 14 at Emory University. "This was a true team effort," says McIntosh biology teacher and head coach Jo Ann Rawlings. "We have an enthusiastic group of students who were willing to work hard all year on a number of different events. We also received a tremendous amount of support from parents and from community sponsors." The Science Olympiad team from McIntosh has attended the national competition every year since Rawlings took the reins as head coach in the mid-1990s. The group placed 17th last year. The 2000-2001 team returned an experienced group of seniors, led by team captains Yosuke Nomura, Kathryn Murphy, and Andrew Henebry, along with David Condon, Christina Mojica, Lindsay O'Connor and Brian Williams. Condon and Henebry shared an individual gold medal for Wright Stuff, a building event in which each set of participants constructed up to two rubber motor-powered, propeller-driven monoplanes. The winning design was determined by the total flight time, with Condon's and Henebry's aircraft soaring for nearly four minutes. Condon also shared a gold medal with sophomore Caleb Austin for Scrambler, an event for which the students designed and built a mechanical device capable of transporting a large, raw chicken egg for up to 12 meters along a straight track as fast as possible. Junior Tony Hung and sophomore Tori Fratto won first place for Dynamic Planet, an event that emphasizes the use of science processing skills involving meteorology. The students were required to generate inferences, make observations and predictions, formulate and evaluate hypotheses, and collect and interpret a variety of data all within 50 minutes. Fratto and junior Kate Schmid also took fifth place for Science of Fitness, which requires a mastery of physical activity and fitness knowledge, exercise physiology problems, and measurement skills. Hung and Nomura took sixth place for Cell Biology, an event that covers cell structure, protein synthesis, photosynthesis, cell reproduction, DNA replication, RNA synthesis, molecular genetics, DNA sequencing and analysis, and DNA fingerprinting and immunology. Henebry and O'Connor finished sixth in Amphibians and Reptiles, which covers the structure, life history, behaviors, habitat, conservation, distribution, taxonomic relationships, and identification of these animals. The national Science Olympiad competition fields teams from nearly all 50 states. Teams are limited to 20 students including no more than seven seniors who spend many hours of their own time preparing for their events. At the national competition, McIntosh faces the additional obstacle of competing against teams from some states who study for the competition as part of their high school science class. In addition to Rawlings, McIntosh science teachers Jay Cawley and Darren Handley and several parents provide coaching assistance. "This competition is a tremendous opportunity for some of our top students to get some hands-on experience in many areas of math and science," Rawlings says. "Our goal each year is to progress through the regional and state competitions and to attend nationals. The insights the students gain along the way are invaluable." Other members of the 2000-2001 McIntosh Science Olympiad team included Chris Baudhuin, Michael Condon, Robert Huefner, Daniel Lin, Ben Lorber, John Powers, Reah Rogers, Chris Taylor, Patrick Thomas, Rik Wyatt, and Tom Wyatt.
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