Grand Haven's student publication of community significance since 1927

The Bucs' Blade
Grand Haven's student publication of community significance since 1927

The Bucs' Blade
Grand Haven's student publication of community significance since 1927

The Bucs' Blade

Science Olympiad team sweeps Regionals

Vlasia Niotis, Web Editor
April 1, 2014

The Science Olympiad team won first place in the high school division at the regional tournament held at Grand Valley State University last Saturday. They had the low score of 75 points.

Both of the middle schools and high school will be advancing on to the Michigan Science Olympiad tournament held at Michigan State University on Saturday, April 26 with the rest of the top six teams from this region.

“I would expect that we would see similar results again [at state],” chemistry teacher, and head coach Michael Reed said. “It gets tough. The competition becomes more difficult as we go up in the levels.”

The high school placed first in eight events; Astronomy, Boomilever, Compound Machines, Disease Detectives, GeoLogic Mapping, MagLev, Materials Science and Mission Possible. They medaled in all but three events.

“I can’t say that we’re perfect,” Reed said. “Nobody’s perfect. We’re just going to try to continue learning and improving our devices all around and hopefully see improvement in all areas.”

The team plans on fine-tuning their skills and devices for the upcoming state tournament. The levels become harder and the requirements are greater. They will also be competing against more schools, 48 at state compared to the 24 at regionals.

“It becomes more specific, more precise,” Reed said. “They have to be better prepared to work with those conditions.”

To continue on to nationals, the team must place first or second at state.There’s more pressure to do well at the upcoming tournament. The students have to dedicate a lot of time to studying and staying after school to practice.

“Nothing ever goes perfectly,” Reed said. “But the students need to realize that it doesn’t have to be perfect; just do your best and when we do our best, it’s usually better than everyone else.”

Score board: How the team did

Here’s a look at how the team scored compared to their competition. The scores are calculated by adding up the placements in all of the events. The lowest score wins.

1st Place: Grand Haven High School – 75 points

2nd Place: Grand Rapids Christian High School – 100 points

3rd Place: Plymouth Christian High School – 132 points

4th Place: West Ottawa High School – 144 points

5th Place: Forest Hills Central High School – 158 points

6th Place: Grandville High School – 172 points

Junior Nick Johnson and senior Eric VanDyke prepare for the event Scrambler. The event required the duo to build a vehicle that traveled quickly but also would stop so an egg in the front of the vehicle would not break and hit the wall at the end of the runway (Michalski).
Junior Nick Johnson and senior Eric VanDyke prepare for the event Scrambler. The event required the duo to build a vehicle that traveled quickly but also would stop so an egg in the front of the vehicle would not break and hit the wall at the end of the runway (Michalski).

 

The Field House at GVSU fills up with teams from both the middle school and high school divisions as the awards ceremony is about to begin (Michalski).
The Field House at GVSU fills up with teams from both the middle school and high school divisions as the awards ceremony is about to begin (Michalski).
Senior captains Karl Johnson and Kaia Hayes have some fun representing the team in the "Parade of Schools" during the opening ceremonies.
Senior captains Karl Johnson and Kaia Hayes have some fun representing the team in the “Parade of Schools” during the opening ceremonies (Michalski).
After winning first place overall, the team poses for a selfie.
After winning first place overall, the team poses for a selfie (Michalski).
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About the Contributor
Vlasia Niotis
Vlasia Niotis, Web Editor
Senior Vlasia Niotis has been on staff since sophomore year and this is her second year as the web editor for the Bucs’ Blade’s online news media outlet. When she is not in the Bucs’ Blade room, she can be found in the music wing. Vlasia enjoys playing the violin and is the concertmaster of Grand Haven High School’s Chamber Orchestra. She attends many musical competitions and workshops throughout the year and always receives high ratings. Outside of school she enjoys making gyros at Mr. Kozak’s where she works. Currently, Vlasia is not sure where she wants to go to college or what she wants to major in, but wants to make a positive impact on society with whatever she goes into. She hopes her senior year to be exciting and memorable.