Bloomington High School South, The Gothic, 2014, Page 93

Description:	ill 1■ laSenior Helena Lysandrou takes notes as she initiates contact_another club during a HAM Radio Club meeting. Members of theb spent the year preparing for the HAM School Club Roundup.Freshman Prince Butler makes some adjustments. THREE Butlerin the Penthouse, HAM radios domain on the fourth floor, whilela tysandorou and freshman Maria Lysandrou confer to his right.:■OUR in celebration of the end of the year — a year which brought themaccomplishments and accolades - senior Padraig Lysandrou,omore Ryan Cutshall a~d Butler enjoy a slice of pizza at a meeting■onsorMr. Neil Rapps room. PHOTOS BY QUINTON MCNEILAs Bloomington Souths HAM Radio clubbroadcasted their voices over the airwaves, theygained an important distinction: best in thewoIn todays globally-connected society, fewcan claim to be the best in the world, butamong those few is the Bloomington HighSchool South Amateur Radio Club, whichmanaged to finish first in the School ClubRoundup competition that featured manyteams from all over the world.Three months after the initialcompetition, the group was notified that theyhad won the prestigious competition.Regarding the novelty of the position,freshman Sam Norrell said, we had nevergotten first in the past, so it was nice to be apart of the team that did. Senior PadraigLysandrou thought that it was truly aproduct of hard work.So what kind of work goes into being apart of the best HAM radio team in theworld? First, one must be willing to dedicatea large amount of time to actually being onthe radio. During the week of the competition,Norrell explained that the club always hadsomeone on the radio, at any time. Next,one must be willing to learn all the technicallanguage involved in amateur radio. Thismay be more difficult than it sounds; it isessentially an entirely new language [to alayperson], said Lysandrou. Then, throw insome knowledge of electromagnetism andanyone is ready to tune in.To the average student, this may haveseemed like more work than its worth, but thebenefits of becoming a HAM were clear tothe club members. It helps yourcommunication skills, pointed out seniorCole Evans as he discussed some of the skillshe gained from HAM radio. Lysandrourecounted how HAM radio led him toelectronics and his current plan to major inengineering at Cornell University. In theoutside world, HAM radio is used byNASA to keep in contact with satellites andin other various communications industries —Youll find HAM radio everywhere.But the benefits did not stop there.Lysandrou disclosed that HAM radio isoften used during trial runs when largeelectronic companies release new products.The radio itself is also a stand-alone perk.It is the only form of communication thatcan stand by itself, Lysandrou said. Bigcompanies like AT&T and Verizon havebuilt towers for cell phone use, but all Ineed is a single radio, and I cancommunicate with people all over theworld.And with those people he hasdiscovered, Lysandrou found what hedescribed as the most supportivecommunity [he] has ever been a part of.Helping prove his point, Norrell recountedreceiving stacks of postcards from thepeople they had contacted. With thesupport of his network of contacts,Lysandrou has risen to prominence. Now,whether it is publishing articles, advisingfellow amateur radio enthusiasts fromplaces such as Cuba, or winning variousHAM radio awards, Lysandrou has found acommunity where he can always belong.So also lies a similar chance for anypotential amateur radio enthusiasts.Now that Souths HAM radio club isfirst in the world, how can they keep thetitle? It will be especially difficultconsidering the loss of a very large seniorclass. Despite this knowledge, the clubremains confident. They just need to keepdoing what they do, said Lysandrou.-JAMES TANFORD
Source:	http://cdm17129.contentdm.oclc.org/cdm/ref/collection/hs-bloomsouth/id/9199
Collection:	Bloomington High School South

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