Wednesday, April 10, 2002
|
Wednesday, April 10, 2002 |
|
Three Fayette Schools Headed for National Science Competition
A near sweep of the Georgia Science Olympiad Meet lands three Fayette Schools an invitation to compete at the national level. Fayette had a total of five schools that qualified to participate in the Georgia Science Olympiad competition held on March 23 at Augusta State College and Emory University. The schools participating were J.C. Booth Middle, Rising Starr Middle, Flat Rock Middle, McIntosh High and Sandy Creek High. From the state competition, Georgia is allowed to send the first and second place winners in both the middle and high school divisions to compete at the national level. Three of the four schools representing Georgia this year are from the Fayette County School System. Once again, J.C. Booth Middle has taken first place in the state. Now the school's Science Olympiad team is heading to the national competition in Delaware where it will attempt to secure its seventh consecutive championship win. Overall, Booth Middle took home 10 first, 8 second and 2 third place awards. Booth students who received medals at the competition and helped to lead the team to the state championship are Daniel Bass, Jessica Everidge, Josh Rower, Kevin Goelz, Tom Lucak, Karen Ketschme, Steve Piasta, Brittany Utting, Ashley Murphy, Jan Fratto, Daniel Bass, Sarah Wilder Craig Western, Steve Perry, Brian Odrkura, Allison Fratto, and Andrew Wedemeyer. Rising Starr Middle finished second behind Booth, securing an invitation to the national competition with a total of 4 first, 5 second and 5 third place awards. Team members include Andrew Zheng, Brett Lorber, Brian Martin, Andrew Hayes, Andrew Ash, Craig Huffman, Davis Grisham, Jen Schildmeyer, Daniel Shankle, Brett LaBrecque, Kento Masuyama, David Lowry, Brad Morris, Tim Legare, Jack Larsh, Nathan Shankle and Devin Harrington. McIntosh will be the only high school from Fayette competing at the national level. The school brought home 5 first, 2 second and 2 third place awards to finish first and win the championship in its division. Team members are Reah Rogers, Jon Noren, Christine Hedge, Chris Taylor, Ryan Nigro, Haynes Kleimeyer, Caleb Austin, Michael Condon, Robert Huefner, John Powers, Tori Fratto, Kate Schmid and Chris Baudhuin. Flat Rock Middle placed 14th overall in their division. Team members Ashley Ellis and Bryan Ellis won a second place award in Egg Drop, Michael Di Guisto and Bryan Ellis took third place in Bottle Rockets and Ian Buchanan earned third place in Weather or Not. Sandy Creek High ended up placing in the top half of the high school competition with Simon Coleman and Brian Johns taking third in Storm the Castle and Chris Wells and Mark Smits also bringing home a third place award in Physics Lab. Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science by both students and teachers. These goals are accomplished through classroom activities, research, training workshops and the encouragement of intramural, district, regional, state and national tournaments. The Science Olympiad tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of individual and team events which students prepare for during the year. The competitions follow the format of popular board games, TV shows and athletic games. These challenging and motivational events are well balanced between the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers and technology. Although Rising Starr is hoping to achieve its first national championship this year, team sponsor Marge Counts says that Science Olympiad is more than just a competition, it is a spring board to inspire students in their pursuit of a science career. Counts also adds that while students learn more about science, they are helping to improve the quality of life for everyone. "Rising Starr is proud to represent the state of Georgia at the national competition. As we enter the new millennium, knowledge is more critical than ever before, and this team, striving to attain excellence, has a desire to make a difference in our future as well as their own," says Counts. Rising Starr, along with Booth and McIntosh, will compete at the national competition May 17-18 at the University of Delaware.
|
||