TJ Science Olympiad State Champions

On Saturday, March 20, the Thomas Jefferson Middle School Science Olympiad team took part in the Indiana Science Olympiad State Competition, held at Indiana University. Out of 26 middle schools, TJ took home another state title, their 18th since 1990. The team took home 23 medals out of 27 events, 9 first places, 3 seconds, 7 thirds, 1 fourth, and 3 fifth places, with a total score of 91. The team consists of 5 freshmen students, 2 7th grade students, 2 alternate 7th grade students, and 8th grade students make up the rest.

The students participated in a variety of events. Zack Hallow participated in Wright Stuff, flying airplanes made with wood, plastic, and rubber bands. This event only allowed each airplane to fly once, so the students had to know how far they could push the plane to get the most air time without snapping the rubber bands.

Compute This was also another event. Alex Kessler and Ethan Biggs, state champions in this event 2 years in a row, competed again this year. They were given online questions about a problem that relates to NASA and were required to answer, chart the data in Excel, and graph all within a 55 minute period.

Battery Buggy was another competition. Adam Sandberg and Anthony Nelson were given two tries to make their buggy follow a straight line and lane as near to or on a marked spot. After the second attempt, TJ’s buggy followed the straight line and ended up winning this event.

After all of the events took place, the awards ceremony was held. Each team had representatives carry their school banner across the stage, as part of the opening ceremonies. Alex Kessler and Veronica Chevalier represented TJ Science Olympiad. Then awards were given out by event. Lexi Bluhm, Asher Norland, and Veronica Chevalier took first place in Experimental Design, an event where the students are given materials and are required to conduct an organized experiment, from forming a hypothesis, to implementing the procedure, recording data, graphing data, forming a conclusion, and creating an evaluation. They worked together as a team, each person assigned to a different part of the experiment.

TJ Science Olympiad will head on to Nationals on May 21, one of two teams representing Indiana. Practicing 5 days a week, the students will work hard in hopes to become National Champions, a title only achieved twice in the team’s history. The following is a list of the students and coaches that make up the 2009-2010 Science Olympiad Team.

Students Coaches
Josh Abatie Richard Bender
Ethan Biggs Carol Haller
Alexis Bluhm Matt Harnew
Veronica Chevalier Doug Wassilak
Kyle Dahlgren Laura Karr
Mark Davidson Bill Dalzotto
Ankur Dhoot Chris Kemper
Mark Halfman Rob Dahlgren
Zack Hallow Jim Young
Alex Kessler Bruce Hrivnak
Jacob Mills Chris Sandberg
Rainer Neis Jose Mas
Anthony Nelson Jim Nelson
Asher Norland Carl Neis
Adam Sandberg Jeanne Brown-Nelson
Elizabeth Schlichting Kari West
Samantha Yaros

Article photos by Aran Kessler