Wednesday, May 22, 2002
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Wednesday, May 22, 2002 |
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Rising Starr tops Booth inNational Science Olympiad By MICHAEL BOYLAN
Rising Starr Middle School ended J.C. Booth Middle's string of six consecutive national titles with its own win at last week's National Science Olympiad at the University of Delaware, but Booth's second-place finish gave Fayette County an impressive 1-2 punch. The middle school division sent team members into 23 events ranging from events like "Can't Judge a Powder by its Color" and "Egg Drop" to "Science Crime Busters" and "Wright Stuff." Each event uses anywhere from 1-4 team members and points are awarded. There are also pilot events, which award medals but do not count towards the point totals for the schools. Rising Starr sponsor Dr. Marge Counts said her team had no idea of how well they were going to finish. "They only announce the top six finishers in each of the 23 events. We had several finishers in the top six but other schools seemed to be getting called up more than us, including the school in front of us," Counts recalled. "When they announced Booth finished in second place some of us started to congratulate the team in front of us for winning. When they called our name, you could have knocked us over with a feather." The students on the team, their families and the entire community are proud of the accomplishment of both Rising Starr and J.C. Booth. Fayette County School Board member Marion Key announced the news to the crowd at the Fayette County Board of Education meeting Monday evening. It was also announced that McIntosh High School competed in the Olympiad and finished 21st out of 60 high schools competing. Two elementary schools competed in the Georgia Science Olympiad and finished well. Brooks Elementary finished in second place while Oak Grove Elementary School placed fourth out of 23 schools. Among their top scores at the national event, Rising Starr Middle School took first place in Weather or Not, second Place in Metric Estimation, second Place in Science of Fitness and third place in Pentathalon. Additionally, the Rising Starr team scored first place in the trial event: Compute This. Team members and their grade levels are David Lowry (7), Brian Martin (9), Andrew Hayes (8), Kento Masuyama (8), Tim Legare(9), Kevin Harrell (6), Davis Grisham (8), Andrew Zheng (7), Brett LaBrecque (9), Brad Morris (9), Jennifer Schildmeyer (7), Brett Lorber (8), Craig Huffman (7), Andrew Ash (7), Daniel Shankle (9). Alternates on the team were; Nathan Shankle (6), Steven LeBrecque (6), Devin Harrington (9), Katie Tramonte (8) and Ariella Perry (6). Team coaches are Dr. Marge Counts, Mr. Tom Reed, Mrs. Julie Gray, and Mrs. Martha Trisler. The National Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education and increasing student interest in science. The Science Olympiad has been on the cutting edge of educational innovations for almost twenty years. Created by teachers for use by teachers and their students these innovations include an emphasis on high academic standards; learning through hands-on activities; learning with other students in events which require teamwork; and making applications and connections to the real world.
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