Science Olympiad teams stay state's best
BYMELANIEWAITE Special to the News

Courtesy Photo We are the champions....again-nnnnn Gulf Breeze Middle School won its ninth straight Science Olympiad, GBHS, its fifth.

Nine is fine, and five is pretty good too, thought the Science Olympiad teams from Gulf Breeze Middle and Gulf Breeze High Schools, as they walked away with the top spots in the State Science Olympiad Saturday, March 24, at the University of Central Florida. It was the ninth consecutive win for the middle school and fifth straight among six for the high school.

The wins earned the Gulf Breeze schools the privilege of representing Florida in the 24th annual National Science Olympiad May 19 at the University of Kansas in Wichita.

Gulf Breeze Middle also fielded a B, or training team, which placed second in the Junior High Division.

This year Excel awarded a computer to the most valuable senior on each of the top ten teams participating. Will Dirschka, who has competed in Science Olympiad each year since he was a sixth grader, and the only senior on this year's team, received the coveted award.

The Florida Science Olympiad is part of a national competition featuring events from many science disciplines, including physics, chemistry, earth science and biology. Teams of up to 15 students compete in middle- and high-school divisions. 27 teams signed up for the junior high division and 25, in the high school category.

Events are designed to help students learn about communication and problem solving in addition to specific science skills. Many of the events have been correlated to the Sunshine State Standards, which are used as the basis for the science portion of the Florida Comprehensive Assessment Test, which this year will count toward schools grades for the first time.

"Never in your life will you see so many students so excited about academics and science," said Mike McKee, who directs the state Science Olympiad and is a program director at UCF's College of Optics and Photonics. "They are excited about it because Science Olympiad makes learning fun. And the best thing is that teachers use Science Olympiad activities as a great way to prepare the students for the FCAT science test in March."

The competition was moved this year for the first time to a university campus, which Gulf Breeze Middle coaches Deborah Cathey and Sharon Schaeffner said made it more like a national competition. McKee formerly hosted the contest at Cypress Creek High, where he taught before joining the UCF staff, and last year it was at another Orlando high school.

The score is the summation of the placement of teams in each event, with the low score winning, so every event counts. Additional penalties are added for not participating or for disqualification.

The teams met outside school hours during much of the school year to prepare for the competition.

Medal winners for Gulf Breeze High's winning team follow:

Colin Burke: 2nd, Robot Ramble

Kelsey Campbell: 2nd, Oceanography; 3rd, Write It, Do It

Jake Conner: 1st, Fermi Questions; 1st, Wright Stuff, 2nd, Oceanography

Will Dirschka: 1st, Forensics; 1st' Rocks and Minerals; 2nd, Robot Ramble

Kyle Finelli: 1st, Health Science; 1st, Rocks and Minerals

Ryan Henderson: 1st, Sounds of Music; 2nd, Circuit Lab; 3rd, Write It, Do It

Ryan Kent: 1st, Wright Stuff; 3rd, Entomology

Lauren Musick: 3rd, Chemistry Lab

Logan Redja: 3rd, Entomology

Meagan Schaeffner: 1st, Fermi Questions, 1st, Forensics

Tiffany Sharar: 1st, Health Science; 2nd, Circuit Lab, 2nd, Designer Genes

Jon Villaneuva: 1st, Sounds of Music. Stewart Williams: 3rd, Chemistry Lab

Alex York: 2nd in Designer Genes

Clayton Walden also competed but did not medal.

Gulf Breeze High coaches included teachers Merrill Bordelon, Susan Cundiff, and Leslie Skinner, with parents Liz Yelverton, Paula Brown, Ellen Finelli, Christine Henderson, Sharon Schaeffner and Pam Dirschka.

Gulf Breeze Middle's A team medal winners follow:

Evan Bernard: 3rd, Wheeled Vehicle

Ryan Burke: 1st, Awesome Aquifer

Eric Burke: 1st, Science Word; 1st, Simple Machines; 3rd, Oceanography

R.J. Burns: 1st, Awesome Aquifer

Hunter Bradshaw: 1st, Science Word; 3rd, Oceanography

Andrew Clark: 1st, Ecology; 1st, Mission Possible; 1st, Solar System; 3rd, Wheeled Vehicle

Vincent Costers: 1st, Rocks and Minerals; 1st, Solar System; 2nd, Don't Bug Me; 3rd, Metric Mastery

Joey Finelli: 1st, Food Chemistry; 1st, Tower Building

Nathan Gupta: 1st, Anatomy; 1st, Mission Possible; 1st, Storm the Castle

Nick Gupta: 1st, Mission Possible; 1st, Storm the Castle

Katie McIver: 1st, Anatomy; 1st, Tower Building

Nick Musmansky: 1st, Rocks and Minerals; 1st Simple Machines; 2nd, Don't Bug Me

Alyce Tack: 1st, Ecology

Garrett Zanca: 1st, Food Chemistry; 3rd, Metric Mastery

Chau Ho also competed. On GBM's B team, these students earned medals:

Nick Bookout: 2nd, Storm the Castle

Taylor Castleberry: 1st, Balloon Launched Glider; 2nd, Simple Machines

Lauren Harrison: 2nd, Heredity

Erik Kelsch: 2nd, Metric Mastery; 3rd, Mission Possible

Madison Penico: 1st, Wheeled Vehicle

Seth Rejda: 1st, Wheeled Vehicle; 2nd, Metric Mastery; 2nd, Storm the Castle

Savannah Smith:3rd, Mission Possible

Will Spearing: 1st, Balloon Race; 2nd, Awesome Aquifer

Brandon Vogt: 1st, Oceanography

Alex Williams: 2nd, Heredity; 2nd, Simple Machines

Sarah Woods: 3rd, Mission Possible

Bryan Zanca: 1st, Balloon Launched Glider

Brianna Edler and Sierra Knoch competed on the team as well.

GBM coaches included teachers Deborah Cathey and Sharon Schaeffner, head coaches; plus Mike Ruth, Bob Smith and Casey Fearon; and parents Ellen Finelli, Patty Burke, Roberta Harvey, Lisa and Sunil Gupta, Griet Roes, Chris Costers, Christine Henderson, Scott Musmansky, Frances Spearing, and Jerry Clark. GBH student Ryan Henderson mentored as well.