Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2009, Page 96

Description:	Members team up with dieSpell Bowl Team and participate in self-guided learningand academic competitions inscience, math, social studies,iguage arts, and fine artsjund a defined topic.During one of their meetings, Mr.Dan Combs instructs freshmanAbigail Cesnik on how to sign upfor an activity, photo by MADELINEScience Olympiad is an academic competition focusingon all areas of science. Teamsof 15 students compete on theregional, state, and nationallevel.Junior Samuel Hass builds a pendulum during a Science Olympiadmeeting after school.PHOTO BY KAITLYNNE SILXTRSThe Speech Tearcompetitive extraactivity open to astudents. Oevents arefrom imprcduo scene irSenior>Pantele-Speech Tean:PHOTO BY RACsweeter than %Students in Science Olympiad share their stories of why their club is great.The Bloomington High School SouthScience Olympiad team could havebeen considered an athletic group.However, instead of exercising thebody with weight-lifting, running, andpush-ups, the members exercised theirminds in accuracy and creativity.But there was more to it than just science. The Science Olympiad coach of15 years, Ms. Cindy Kvale, said it wasa very social thing for students to beinvolved in. Its an opportunity to explore, in-depth, their scientific interestsin a fun environment.Though they didnt officially meetuntil 4:00, students went to practiceimmediately after school, snackingon Otis Spunkmeyer cookies as theyworked. They socialized with partnersand friends as they discussed ways tofix problems with their current scientific projects, which included anythingfrom building a robot to studying astronomy. They did all they could toprepare for the big competition, assenior Alexander Audretsch putit.This big competition was Au-dretschs favorite part of Science Olympiad. I love it because thats when youget to put all the time you spent preparing to good use, he said as he drilleda hole to help suspend the pulley of hisclock project.Even though the competitions werehis favorite part, they were also themost difficult for him and most otherOlympiads. Its very challenging to tryand figure out how to practice for thecompetition. You dont know what toexpect, Audretsch said.The team overcame the challengeand advanced to nationals after placingsecond at the state competition.Competitions arent the only challenge, however. Freshman Ian Car-rico said the most challenging part forhim was getting everything just right,because if you dont, its bad.Junior Alexander BertoloniMeli said his biggest challenge wasstaying focused all year.Despite all these challenges, theScience Olympiad members were allglad they stuck with their club. Eventhough there are a lot of challenges, thegood aspects cancel out the negatives,sophomore Marshall Mullins said.Its just a lot of fun. -KAITLYNNE SII.VERS96 \| ACTIVITIES \| academic clubs
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/8118
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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