Students Preparing For Regional Science Olympiad
Like some of their peers preparing for basketball tournaments, a handful of Rogers High School students are sweating out the few days before the Big Competition.
Junior Erik Reed has been there before - three times in fact.
“Everybody gets nervous before a competition,” said Reed. “Rogers is going to win.”
Reed and 14 other Rogers students will hop on a bus Saturday and head to Eastern Washington University for the regional Science Olympiad, a competition that matches students’ smarts and creativity head-to-head with their peers at other schools.
Ferris High School sends four teams of 15 and is regularly a winner. But Rogers, new to the competition with entries just two previous years, has the swagger of an underdog.
“The stars are in alignment,” said coach and science teacher Janet Bogle. “It’s in Cheney and I live in Cheney. It’s my sister’s birthday. I told Ferris, don’t bother showing up.”
Students compete in a dozen categories - road map and rock-identifying competitions, water rocket shoots and weather forecasting. One contest has students create anything out a pile of random parts, similar to a scene in the movie “Apollo 13.”
Reed is putting the finishing touches on a Rube Goldberg device, which turns the simple action of dropping a ball into a cup into a 20-step conundrum of wheels, melting wires and batteries.
“This is a blast,” said Reed. “You get to invent as it goes along.”
Sophomore Matt Whitfield designed a rocket out of a two-liter bottle, which he fills half-way with water and then pumps full of pressurized air.
“I’ve hit cars,” said Whitfield, shyly. “I’m glad the owners weren’t home.”
The team is finishing its entry in the Scrambler category, which requires that a motorized car stop on a dime before breaking an egg attached to the front bumper.
Last year, the Rogers car not only stopped, it went backward. “I thought we should have gotten extra points,” said Bogle.
This year, a roller skate has been modified. A weight acts as a timer; when the weight drops to a certain point, it triggers a brake lever.
“Physics is fun,” said Reed.
Senior Katie Dahl is the team veteran with five years of Science Olympiad experience. Dahl likes to see students who aren’t jocks or actors.
“The people that do it are into science and are not necessarily athletic and that is the only way they are involved in the school,” said Dahl.
Other team members include seniors Thinh Vue, Melissa Laramie, Sheila Walt, Kelly Sargent and Rachel Schnell; juniors Jon Arnott and Mark Schuerman; sophomores Andy Dahl and Melinda Boggs; and freshmen Samantha Knight and Chuck Reno.
Students from area schools are also taking part in an Odyssey of the Mind competition Saturday at EWU.
Good ideas bring in the bucks
What would you do if you had $1,000 to spend creatively? Spokane school teachers who received Good Idea Grants from Washington Water Power have decided how to spend the money.
At Rogers High School, the grant, given to teachers Cyndi Logan and Mary Porter, will be used to help students learn about DNA, genetic engineering, viruses, natural selection and ecosystems through good literature and writing exercises.
The Willard Elementary grant will help underwrite an accelerated reader program. The grant, given to teachers Kay Wright, Joann Ekstrom and Rona Williams, will buy computer software to help students pick their own reading materials, then test themselves.
Bemiss Elementary will open a Family Learning Center to buy books, computer software and computers for the use of the students’ families. Teachers Lorna Spear, Vicki Wold and Linda Lee received the grant.
Holmes Elementary will buy Wiggleworks Interactive Computer Software to help students kindergarten through third grade who have had limited exposure to technology increase their reading, writing, speaking and listening skills. Teachers Karen Bialozor, Brenda Van Matre, Maureen Conley and Helen McMahon received the grant.
, DataTimes MEMO: Education Notebook is a regular feature of the North Side Voice. If you have news about an interesting program or activity at a North Side school or about the achievements of North Side students, teachers or school staff, please let us know. Write: Jonathan Martin, Education Notebook, North Side Voice, P.O. Box 2160, Spokane, WA 99210. E-mail: jonathanm@spokesman.com. Call: 459-5484. Fax: 459-5482.