Science Scholars Test Wits Teams From Around Country Compete In 34 Events

While explosions thundered nearby, 16-year-old Artit Jirapatnakul remained focused on an open biology textbook Friday afternoon while sitting outside on the campus mall of Eastern Washington University.

Eastern’s science faculty welcomed middle and high school students from around the country to the National Science Olympiad 2000 with their “Chemical Mystery Tour.” Hundreds of students gathered for the impressive display of exploding hydrogen balloons, multicolored flames and fizzing concoctions that changed colors.

But Jirapatnakul, from Harriton High School in Rosemont, Pa., had cramming to do. Today, he is among more than 2,100 students who are testing their wits and ingenuity in the prestigious science competition.

“I’m very nervous,” said Jirapatnakul, who hopes to take home a gold medal. “I’m expecting the competition to be very fierce.”

The students attending the event are among the country’s brightest science students. Today, the 108 teams compete in 34 events involving chemistry, physics, biology, earth science and technology.

In some events, students design and build devices, like a battery-powered vehicle, a bottle rocket made of a plastic soda bottle or a small boat propelled by baking soda and acetic acid. In other events, students take tests or demonstrate science laboratory skills.

NASA astronaut and Sunnyside, Wash., native Bonnie Dunbar was the keynote speaker during the Olympiad’s opening ceremonies Friday night.

Jayne Martin, 15, of Centerville, Ohio, had an opportunity to sit down and visit with Dunbar earlier in the day with her teammates.

“She was really great,” Martin said. “It was inspirational hearing her say to disregard people who say you can’t do it.”

Dunbar told Martin, along with her two female teammates, not to be discouraged should they face any unequal treatment in science and engineering because of their gender.

“Ignore the people who don’t support you and listen to the people who do,” Dunbar told them.

She said she learned to ignore detractors early on.

“I had a faculty member who asked me to sit in the back of the class so I wouldn’t distract the `real’ engineers.”

The competition runs from 8:30 a.m. to 3:30 p.m. today, with the awards ceremony this evening. Winners may receive more than just medals and prestige. Eastern will offer scholarships to gold medal winners, provided they meet admission requirements.

Any gold medal winners from Washington will be offered full tuition, renewable for four year as long as they maintain a 3.5 grade-point average. Out-of-state champions will be offered a reduced tuition rate.

Four Washington state teams from Moses Lake, Brush Prairie, Lacey and Stanwood are competing. No teams from the Spokane area or North Idaho advanced to the national competition.

Robin McRae, an associate chemistry professor at Eastern, said the Olympiad has been a great opportunity to show off Eastern’s strong science program.

“We’ve got kids from all over the country and we’d like to see some of them come here,” said McRae, who performed the live experiments for the crowd. “We have strong faculty resources and students can get a very good science education for a reasonable cost.”

Today’s event is open to the public. An educational display from NASA, featuring models of the Space Shuttle, the Hubble telescope and the Space Station will be held in the Pence Union Building (PUB).

Campus tours will be given at 10 a.m., noon and 2 p.m. today. Tours begin on the steps of the PUB.