GB Middle, High top state in Science Olympiad
BY FRANKLIN HAYES Gulf Breeze News franklin@gulfbreezenews.com

Ryan Roose shows the robot he built for Science Olympiad competition. Both the Gulf Breeze Middle and High Schools will compete at nationals in Washington, D.C.

Whether it's building functional robots or identifying samples of igneous rock, Gulf Breeze high and middle school students are up to the challenge and their talents are taking them to compete among the nation's best in Science Olympiad.

Students from both schools will travel to Washington, D.C. for the national level contest. While going to nationals is nothing

new for the schools, there are some newcomers to the team who are excited to prove their worth against the nation's very best.

Like the infamous Dr. Frankenstein, Ryan Roose toiled in his garage, combining parts from defunct machines to build the competitive robot he used in state competition last month. A power window motor was used for torque and a rubber window cleaner was incorporated to pick up index cards. Roose, a senior at Gulf Breeze High School (GBHS), is a first time team member and is ready to take his creation to the next level. Although his machine suffered a mechanical failure and his team placed 16th, Roose is optimistic that his contraption can still be a dangerous competitor.

"If that hadn't happened, we would have won first or second place," Roose said in reference to the Robot Ramble event, where participants design and build robots to perform simple tasks.

Roose added that through Science Olympiad he was able to discover a new hobby in robotics, a field he wants to study in college.

"I think its Science Olympiad is underrated," Roose said. "It's a lot of work. I think people don't try it because it's Science Olympiad and it's a bunch of nerds, but it's a lot of fun. I enjoyed it."

GBHS Olympiad coordinator Susan Cundiff has been invited to nationals for seven years in a row. Despite her experience, Cundiff said she was impressed with the abilities of Roose and teammate Jason Lambert in another event called Electric Vehicles, where the pair took first place.

"It was these two guys'' first year," Cundiff said. "Their car performed very well. Both of them like to build and design. Their abilities sure showed up with this one."

Gulf Breeze Middle School teacher and Science Olympiad coordinator Sharon Schaeffner said early preparation is the key to their repeated success.

"These kids work as hard as athletics for their meetings," Schaeffner said. "The middle school kids are competing at a high school level and the high schoolers are competing at college level… We start early in the year. We immediately begin practicing. We have lots of wonderful volunteer coaches and a very supportive school and community."

Both schools are asking the community for its support in their fundraising efforts. The teams are collecting Bruno's receipts and the high school team alone needs approximately $15,000, Cundiff said.