Thurmont Middle School Students—Future Scientists

Theresa Dardanell Crime busters, bottle rockets, hovercraft, food science, and disease detectives were only a few of the events at the recent Maryland Science Olympiad competitions. After weekly practice sessions, fourteen Thurmont Middle School students participated in the Oakdale High School county tournament and the University of Maryland Central Regional Tournament. The Maryland Science Olympiad, with competitions in biology, earth science, chemistry, physics and technology, is a  program that encourages teamwork and cooperation, makes science fun, and, hopefully, gets students interested in pursuing careers in science- and technology-related fields. The competition includes three types of events. Lab-based events require teams to complete a lab activity. Research events encourage students to prepare materials in advance and use them during the event. In the engineering events, students build a device, such as a rocket or robot, to accomplish a task, and the device is tested during the competition. The purpose of the “Mission Possible” competition is to design and build a device that completes a required task. In the “Optics” event, teams are tested on their knowledge of light and angles for a laser-shoot competition. Sixth grade student, Joey Valcarcel, said that “Experimental Design” was his favorite event, because he enjoys a challenge. Science teacher, Susan Mize, along with assistant coaches, Melissa Carter (chemist/biologist at Fort Detrick) and Jesse Love (retired nuclear engineer from Bechtel), as well as Catoctin High School student, Eamonn Law-Knotts, prepared the students for the competition during weekly practices. Mize said that the students did a great job at the University of Maryland Regional Competition. Teams were awarded first place in “Disease Detectives,” “Write It Do It,” and “Scrambler,” in their division and also placed in eight other events. Pictured are: (front row) Seth McBee, Ana Morlier, Landon Scheetz, Quinn Law-Knotts; (middle row) Ethan Condon, Ava Morlier, Jenna Zentz, Joey Valcarcel, Science Teacher Susan Mize; (back row) Mr. Jesse Love, Abigayle Bowley, Kyle Dutrow, Kendall Abruzzese, Alaina Tuttle, Sophia De Gennaro, and Eamonn Law-Knotts (CHS volunteer). Unavailable for photo: Student Dustin Zimmerman and Assistant Coach Melissa Carter.