Science showdown: Highland Hills wins regional Science Olympiad

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Highland Hills Middle School seventh-grader Ethan Worrall keeps a close eye on his team’s balsa wood tower as he adds weight to it Saturday morning during the Science Olympiad regional competition at Indiana University Southeast. Staff photo by C.E. Branham
A Highland Hills sixth-grader fills a cup of sand, which was used with other cups as weight in the tower event at the regional Science Olympiad competition on Saturday at IU Southeast. Staff photo by C.E. Branham

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February 13, 2012

By BRADEN LAMMERS Braden.Lammers@newsandtribune.com The News and Tribune Mon Feb 13, 2012, 12:39 AM EST

NEW ALBANY — A team of sixth, seventh and eighth-graders from Highland Hills Middle School defeated three other Southern Indiana schools to win the Science Olympiad regional competition at Indiana University Southeast on Saturday.

Highland Hills defeated the International School of Columbus, Scottsburg Middle School and Mitchell to take first place as a team and advance to the state competition March 24 in Bloomington.

A team of 15 students competed in 23 events that encompass science and technology. Individual medals were awarded, but Highland Hills had the best cumulative score.

Brian Brewer, coach for the Highland Hills Middle School Science Olympiad team, said he has helped organize the team since the middle school opened. He added there is a tremendous benefit for the students who get involved.

“This is, I think personally, is really important because this is a chance for them to dive into an area in much more depth than they can in a classroom setting,” he said. “This allows kids the out to really show what they can do and really dive into their interests, versus a very tight and bound curriculum that is restrictive in some ways to that creativity.”

And the students have a host of activities to choose from.

The competition includes events ranging from lab experiments, to building vehicles and structures and even an astronomy-based competition.

Three students, sixth-graders Jordan Burger and Lucas Stewart, and seventh-grader Ethan Worrall, worked together in the storm the castle competition. The competition required the students to build a trebuchet — a counter-weighted catapult used as a siege weapon in the middle ages — and fire a projectile into a bucket.

After landing their first shot, the trio misfired on their following attempts. But that didn’t dampen their spirits.

“I like this event because it not only gives a perspective of building something, but it also gives you this thing that you know you have to get that perfect spot,” Burger said. “I really like it,” he said of Science Olympiad. “And I like the idea of being able to put [science] to actual use in something.”

Burger was an alternate for the storm the castle event and said he would be competing in a couple other events, including crime busters where students use clues to solve problems as if they were in a crime lab, later in the day.

“It’s been a really fun time for me,” he said.

After firing their final of four shots, Stewart and Worrall rushed next door to compete in another event.

The pair were part of a tower competition that was designed to measure the mass of a bass or balsa wood structure built, versus how much mass it could hold.

Worrall, who constructed the tower, poured sand in a bucket connected to the structure. He was just a few grains of sand away from filling the bucket with the full 15 kilograms — about 33 pounds — of sand when the tower gave way. But again, there was not even the slightest sense of disappointment.

“It just seemed like a cool idea to build a structure,” he said, as to why he decided to compete in the tower competition. “I haven’t built much before, so it seemed like a fun idea. It’s a lot of fun and it’s a challenge.”

Stewart, who was the lead on building the trebuchet, said it was the physics of the event that drew him to that competition. He added that he also enjoyed the team aspect of Science Olympiad.

Brewer said everything that is done in the Science Olympiad is left up to the students.

“Our devices may not look as refined as other devices that get built, but I guarantee you ours are all built by the kids,” he said. “That’s the way you learn, is by doing it and failing at it, and learning what to do better and not giving up.”

He added that has been a constant among the students involved, along with an unintended, but additional benefit.

Brewer said it connects kids who have a shared interest and they often make friends being involved in Science Olympiad.

“It’s a wonderful experience,” he said.

Burger, Stewart and Worrall all agreed. Each one said they will be back to compete next year.

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Science showdown: Highland Hills wins regional Science Olympiad

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