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WHS Students Win Multiple Awards at Central Maryland Science Olympiad

WHS Lions Pride Original Story:

by Susanna Chen

Recently, Walkersville High science enthusiasts competed in the Central Maryland Science Olympiad Tournament held at University of Maryland College Park.

Biology teacher Elizabeth Klafter was left with control of the club following the leave of Physics teacher Von Mosser, the former adviser. This came with several issues involving allocating funds, organizing the necessary information, and preparing for events. As a result, the Walkersville team was unfortunately unable to attend the first invitational competition.

Klafter stated, “The biggest hurdle was the fact that they didn’t give us any money to pay for registration of the supplies. I had to write grants. It was both time consuming and the grants did not arrive until after invitations, so we missed it.”

However, with extensive research and organization, Klafter was able to muster enough money and resources for the second competition. She stated, “It was very exciting but there was quite a learning curve to it. I learned a lot about organization and planning.”

The Science Olympiad competition is a collection of 23 events which reflect the current state of science and engineering fields in order to foster an interest in these careers in students across the nation. The competition tests teamwork, problem-solving, and knowledge through requiring students to either construct a device or complete tasks pertaining to the scientific field.

Months before the tournament, students gathered during flex to prepare for their events. Much of it involved building up their knowledge base on scientific topics or building devices to be tested at UMD.

Sophomore Shayna Maleson won second place in the event Write It Do It. “For my build events (events that require the construction of a device), my partner and I found instructions and a kit online and pretty much assembled the kit according to the instructions, but sometimes we had to improvise and make our own adjustments to the device if it didn’t work or could be improved,” said Maleson. “Then we tested them to record the data to turn in. For test events, I used the rules as a study guide and basically looked stuff up, taking digital notes that I could print and bring to the competition in a binder.”

Junior Nathan Raynor, who won first place in Rollercoasters also said, “I spent a couple hours gluing balsa to make an almost okay helicopter. I also worked on the roller coaster event every day during flex last week (except when there was a delay).”

Junior Ellen Belfon, who competed in Wind Power and Optics, said, “I prepared by studying a lot and practicing on how to make the project successful.”

The competition was tense as students scrambled to make it to their events. There were several last minute issues with losing equipment, failure to fulfill prerequisites to compete in the events, and lacking information for the written tests. Finding the location of the separate competitions was an especially common problem many students faced while navigating the campus.

Klafter commented, “It was hectic at times but overall I think that they were relatively well-prepared but there were instances where they couldn’t find the room or they didn’t have a certain piece of equipment.”

Maleson also added, “Time management was a big issue; pretty much everyone on the team found themselves scrambling at the last minute to get things done, especially build events. I personally had never really done any build events before, so this was a learning experience for me, but hopefully my partner and I will be able to improve our designs for next time.”

Results for qualification for the state competition at Johns Hopkins still has not been released, but overall, most students felt satisfied with their performance.

“I was pleased with some [students] and slightly disappointed with others, but it’s an opportunity to learn more…I look forward to doing it next year. I enjoy working with the kids that want to be here, want to learn, and want to do something exciting. I really enjoy it,” said Klafter.

3rd Place Astronomy – Ryan Puthunama

5th Place Remote sensing – AJ Rausch

6th Place Towers – Anthony Southmayerd and Patrick Huber

2nd Place Write It Do It – Shayna Maleson and Harshi Patel

1st Place Rollercoaster – Nathan Raynor

4th Place Electric Vehicle – Susanna and Caleb Chen

2nd Place Ecology – Ryan Puthunama

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