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You have a wooden box, a coffee can and a length of stainless steel wire. Applying the principles of physics, you must fashion these items into a musical instrument capable of playing “God Bless America.” In tune.
No, it’s not the opening to MacGyver: The Musical. It’s one of the brain-teasing tasks presented to the young local inventors and innovators participating in this year’s Mid-Hudson Regional Science Olympiad. On Saturday, Feb. 9, 27 teams from 23 area high schools bused their best and brightest to SUNY Ulster for a day’s worth of competitions in the spirit of fun and the name of science.
Hundreds of teenage physicists, chemists, mathematicians and techies filled the cafeteria in Vanderlyn Hall, awaiting their turns to participate in the tournament’s 20 events: Astronomy, Boomilever, Cell Biology, Chem Lab, Circuit Lab, Ecology, Fermi, Food Science, Forensics, Herpetology, Health Science, Oceanography, Physics, Remote Sensory, Robot Ramble, Rocks and Minerals, Sounds of Music, SumoBots, Wright Stuff and Write It/Do It. Students competed individually or in duos, adding to each team’s cumulative score. Many teams were delineated by matching shirts, some emblazoned with slogans trumpeting their periodic table prowess. “We Barium,” said Valley Central’s (Get it? Bari-um … Bury ’em?). Spackenkill was even more homophonically straightforward: “We Kick Acetate.”
For all the posturing punning, the cafeteria provided an atmosphere of camaraderie among commingling high-schoolers. Students from different teams with similar projects shared equipment and construction tips. “It’s competitive, but these guys are helping each other out. It’s designed to be fun and the kids have got that spirit,” said Marlboro physics teacher Geoffrey Bare.
This attitude extends to the advisors themselves. “What’s amazing is that coaches for successful teams are willing to get fledgling teams started,” said event organizer Ted Skaar, professor of environmental control at SUNY Ulster. Skaar and other university teachers and staff donate their time each year to plan and execute the event.
While coaches help guide, the brainstorming, construction and intense extracurricular studying is the sole responsibility of the students. “They like a good challenge and they’re almost all of them self-starters. You hand them a ball and they run with it,” said Kingston environmental science teacher Jane Franklin. Hand them some scrap metal and a battery or two, and the results are more exciting.
It took two weeks to design and build “John Jay RR,” a boxy ’bot with an erector-set arm, said John Jay student Bryan Nip. Powered by a 7.2-volt battery and guided by a VEX microcontroller from Innovation First, Inc., the robot speedily murdered balloons, deposited tennis balls into a clear rectangular container and relocated Duracell batteries with zip and precision. At the end of the two-minute performance, Nip and John Jay RR received an ovation and cheers from the audience. Another robotics exercise that drew a big crowd was Sumobots, which pitted robots in wheel-to-wheel combat as each tried to knock its opponent out of the battle ring.
Sounds of Music required teams to build their own unique instrument, play two discernible songs and then describe the science behind the sounds. Nick Catania and Tyler Cary of Marlboro won first place with a duet played on the giant windchime-like Carycataphone, a percussive ideophone struck by sponges, and the Carycatabanjo, a laptop chordaphone resembling a large, one-stringed tissue box guitar.
Several events called for on-the-spot application of scientific knowledge. In Food Science, students identified everything from lipids to peptides and differentiated between similar types of food – right down to near-identical cocoa and Dutch cocoa (distinguishing trait: potassium chloride). The “Fermi” competition required estimation and thought to arrive at exponential answers to mind-bending queries. For example, this year’s participants were asked to determine how many blood cells comprise the current U.S. Congress and the number of steps taken by walkers in the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade.
No matter the challenge, the students attacked each task with enthusiasm. “I love the fact that I got to explore different forms of science ... and the fact that I get to meet other students just like me,” said Poughkeepsie High School team member Cleo Stewart.
Medals were awarded to the top five finishers in each of the 20 events. First place overall went to the team from Spackenkill High School, with John Jay, Poughkeepsie, Kingston and Marlboro finishing out the top five. The Spirit Award, for the team exemplifying true scientific sportsmanship, was presented to Ellenville High School.
The top four teams will join winners from 10 other regions for the New York State Science Olympiad at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point on March 14 and 15. The top two in the state will head to the national competition at George Washington University in Washington on May 30 and 31.
Participating in this year’s tournament were: Arlington, Ellenville, Fallsburg, Goshen, Highland, John Jay, R. C. Ketcham, Kingston A, Kingston B, Liberty, Mahopac, Marlboro, Monroe-Woodbury, New Paltz, Onteora, Pearl River, Port Jervis, Poughkeepsie A, Poughkeepsie B, Poughkeepsie C, Red Hook, Rondout Valley, Spackenkill, Sidney, Valley Central A, Valley Central B and Wallkill.
