By Staff
heads for Science Olympiad finals
By PATTI TRUJILLO
Special to the Daily News
A tiny team from a small school is proving they can compete with the best in the area of science.
First in the Greenville Regional Science Olympiad, she means, and headed to the state finals at N.C. State University on April 4-5.
The students, like their Washington High School counterparts who also headed to the finals, will tax one’s ability to follow along any description of a science category. They are on top of their specialties and work long hours during and after school to prepare for their events.
Sarah Glancy, who specializes in Bottle Rocket, Ecology and Oceanography, says, “I’m good at nature and stuff.”
Anabel Medrano, who with partner Cassidy Ploch took a first in Anatomy in the regionals, wants to be an architect. “I like math and all that,” she said.
Her brother, Jose (Crime Busters, Amphibians and Reptiles, Bio Process Labs and Food Science) wants to be a game designer.
He says, with the specialization and partnerships, “We cover twice the space in half the time…. You’re low on time and you have to answer (snaps fingers).”
Watson says North Carolina has the third largest student participation in the nation in the Science Olympiad.
Adam Simmons, who built for Robo-Cross a contraption that “pushed stuff into goals for points” for a first in the regionals along with partner Will Simmons, doesn’t yet know what he wants to be when he grows up.
The middle schoolers have a slight advantage that the high school participants do not have: Their categories are the same at state as they are at the regional competitions.
Blake Jackson, who won a third in Road Scholars (map skills) says, “There’s very little time to answer 50 questions. We have to know magnetic declination and azimuths on three or four different types of maps.”
He wants to be an X-ray technician when he gets older.
Erika Branch, who won a second with Cameron Bowen in Meteorology, says, “There are 50 problems to answer. We have to identify fronts and what kind of weather they would bring.
Bowen won a second in Metric Mastery with partner Adam Simmons. Bowen explained, “We have to estimate how long a coiled rope is or the temperature in the room — random stuff. Then find out the actual answer and compare, all in the metric system.”
She said she wants to be a lawyer and a writer.
Jamie Council took a first with Will Simmons in Crave the Wave (wave energy).
He and Warren took a first in Reach for the Stars. He says, “They were asking about eclipses and what order the planets are in…”
For more information on the North Carolina Science Olympiad, visit sciencenc.com.