Science Olympiad
by Phil Sexton
October 10, 2011
Top picture: Shows the entire 10th - 12th grade team that placed seventhat the State Tournament, Division A. Kyle Depatis, Eli Turasky, Heather Brooks, Madie Scaggs, Taylor Aldridge, Taylor Rossi, Kevin Thomas, Eli Reiser
Backrow: Ashley Murphy, Raymond Phillips, Payton Minder, Tyler Mathews, Summer Worthington, Braden Schlatweiller, Nic Paulsmeyer
Second picture
2011 State medalits for high school team: Heather Brooks, Madie Scaggs, Payton Minder, Raymond Phillips Back: Kyle Depatis, Nic Paulsmeyer, Braden Schlattweiller.
Porta Science Olympiad team state runner up at the state tournament and seventh.
Both PORTA teams advanced to the state Science Olympiad tournament by winning Division B and placing second in division C at the Western Illinois University regional held in February. The state competition was held at the University of Illinois in Champaign on April 16. Both PORTA team’s were in the A division which includes 22 teams. A total of 44 teams are at the tournament in A and AA. These teams qualify from 9 regionals throughout the state. There are over 6000 science Olympiad teams that compete in all 50 states in the U.S.
B division teams consists of 7th, 8th, and 9th graders. Each team competes in 23 events at the regional and state tournaments. The PORTA team did very well in all the events, which placed them as the state runner up! They lost to Lisle by a mere 3 points. Some of the events started at 7:00 A.M. that morning with awards starting at 5:00. The team enjoyed the suspense and excitement of awards since they did so well and earned so many medals. Medals are given for 1st through 5th place at the state level.
The B team earned medals, 1st through 4th in 12 of the 23 events! Those students , their event, and their place are as follows:
Nic Sinclair, Cody Kinsel – State runner up in Battery buggy
Kobe Rossi, Michael McCurdy – 3rd in Dynamic Planet
Maria Brauer, Logan Shelton – 4th in Microbe Mission
Sean Riley, Mitch Muller – State Champions in Bottle rockets
Maria Brauer, Adrienne Brauer – State Champions in Anatomy, State Champions over all 44 teams in Write It Do It
Brandon Bettis, Mitch Muller 4th in Optics
Mitch Muller, Nic Sinclair – State runner up in Tower Building
Matt Price, Cody Kinsel – State Champions in Road Scholar
The following students competed in these events and contributed to the team score: Matt Muller, Joey Spivey in Junkyard engineering- 7th
Matt Muller, Kobe Rossi – 7th in Solar System
John Grosboll, Adrienne Brauer – 6th in Disease Detectivies
John Grosboll, Sean Riley – 8th in Crime Busters
The team has only placed second in the state once before in 2007. This year for example we beat out many Chicago school districts including for example Grayslake with a 7th and 8th grade enrollment of nearly 900.
The C team of 10th – 12th graders finished 7th in Division A. State medalists for the team were:
Raymond Phillips – State Champion in Helicopters
Braden Schlatweiller, Nic Paulsmeyer – State runner up in Mousetrap vehicles
Heather Brooks, Kyle Depatis – state runner up in Fossils
Raymond Phillips – 4th in Towers
Madie Scaggs, Payton Minder, Kyle Depatis – 4th in Experimental Design
Heather Brooks, Nic Paulsmeyer – 5th in Ecology
Other top finishes, but no medals:
Eli Turasky – 7th in Dynamic Planet
Taylor Aldridge, Eli Reiser – 8th in Forensics
The team is coached by teachers H. Scaggs, B Paulsmeyer, and volunteers; M. Schlattweiller, J. Rossi, R. Phillips.
The first picture shows PORTA's state runner up team of 7th - 9th graders. Front row: Sean Riley, Maria Brauer, Adrianne Brauer, Nic Sinclair, John Grosboll, Logan Shelton
Back row: Coach Paulsmeyer, Coach Rossi, Matt Price, Michael McCurdy, Joey Spivey, Matt Muller, Kobe Rossi, Coach Schlatweiller, Coach Scaggs
