Bessemer takes 2nd in engineering competition at NMU

BESSEMER - Students from A.D. Johnston High School competed in the Region 1 Science Olympiad tournament at Northern Michigan University in Marquette Saturday, bringing home two seconds.

The competition is about science, technology, engineering and math.

"After an exhausting day of competition, the students assembled with high hopes and expectations for the final results and standings," said coach Dave Rowe.

"The Bessemer teams have transitioned from teams that participate to a perennial power house that is always one of the top finishers in the U.P. This year, as the awards were announced, we knew early on that things were going well, when our team placed in problem after problem, with the junior high team medaling in 15 of the 22 problems and the high school medaling in 17 of the 23 problems," he saId.

The junior high team finished second behind Washington Middle School (Calumet) in a field of 13 and the Bessemer High School team was second to Calumet in a field of 10.

The Science Olympiad is a national science competition. The top four teams from the regional tournament receive invitations to attend the state tournament in Lansing at the end of April, and the state winners advance to the national tournament.

This year, because of scheduling conflicts, the Bessemer teams will be unable to attend the state tournament, Rowe said.

Coaches Dave and Tracy Rowe said, "The teams start practicing and putting together their projects in early December, fine tuning and testing in January, with the big push coming in February."

Sophomore Uriah Aili said, "Science Olympiad is always different every year, because of the hard challenges they throw at you. My brother (Isaiah) and I built a helicopter, which takes hours of hard work and determination. It is so fragile and during one of the tests it got stuck on the gym ceiling and we used a pole vault pole to get it down."

Senior Kim Wendinger, who has competed for six years, said, "I wouldn't trade any of it for the world."

Lily Wieringa, a senior, said, "I really liked the environment of competition. Everyone is super excited about going to their problems. We get to meet other competitors and everyone is friendly."

In the middle school division, seventh graders who took home awards were: Tyler Baross, second in meteorology; Teddy Wittla-Sprague, first in experimental design and second place road scholar; Janelle Lekies, second in Wright Stuff, second in meteorology and first in wind power.

Eighth graders who earned awards were: Connor Fingeroos, first in Mission Possible and third in Write It, Do It; Kailyn Fingeroos, third in Write It, Do It; Jaakob Fyle, first in Mission Possible, second in rocks and minerals and first in experimental design; Alan Holm, first in ecology, second in Crime Busters and third in Reach for the Stars; Josh Pospeck, second in Rocks and Minerals and third for Reach for the Stars.

Ninth graders: Hannah Janczak, second in Wright Stuff and third in Scrambler; Adam Mazurek, first in Experimental Design and third in Scrambler; Mason Pionk, third in Towers, second in Crime Busters, third in Microbe Mission and first in Wind Power; Tad Rowe, first in ecology, second in Fast Facts and second in Road Scholar; and Eliza Stone, third in Towers, second in Fast Facts and third in Microbe Mission.

Sophomores were Uriah Aili, first in Helicopters; Andy Aspinwall, second in Microbe Mission and third in invasive species; Devon Byers, second in Microbe Mission, third in invasive species, second in Experimental Design and first in Dynamic Planet; Kiah Hollenbeck, third in Robot Arm; Abbey Johnson, third in Write It, Do It.

Juniors: Isaiah Aili, first in Helicopters, third in Robot Arm and first in Dynamic Planet; Byron Hooyman, second in Experimental Design, second in Game On, first in hydrogeology and second in optics; Jared Janczak, first in Wind Power and second in Hovercraft; Camy Lake, first in Wind Power, second in Hovercraft, third in ecology and third in astronomy; Caitlin Lynch, third in Robot Arm; T.J. Mazurek, first in Electric Vehicle, and Tim Rowe, third in Robot Arm, second in Game On and second in Remote Sensing.

Seniors medaling were Rachel Emery, second in Experimental Design and second in Remote Sensing; Blayne Pellinen, second in forensics, first in hydrogeology and second in optics; Steph Pestka, third in astronomy and third in Write It, Do It; Kim Wendinger, first in Electric Vehicle, and Lily Wieringa, second in forensics and third in ecology.