Post Messenger Recorder -

Last Saturday, Belleville High School hosted its third annual Division C Science Olympiad and its second annual Division B Science Olympiad Invitational. About 900 students competed in 28 events.

High school science teacher and Science Olympiad advisor Meredith Smith coordinated the invitational along with, "more than 100 volunteers including district staff, parents, and former students who made sure that the event ran like clockwork."

Five years ago, Smith asked if she could start the program in Belleville. When given approval, she contacted Brad Paff, Medford's Science Olympiad advisor, and eventually Andy Hamm, Boyceville's advisor.

"Both have been extremely helpful in building Belleville's program," said Smith. "At the same time, being some of our strongest competitors."

Smith said that working with the students and their success makes every moment worth her efforts.

"I love teaching science and I love that I get to teach science outside of the classroom," said Smith. "I had good teacher-student relationships before but now it's different. Students are even more excited about science and excelling in the events and together, we are achieving our Science Olympiad goals."

Belleville had three high school teams and one middle school team that participated in the invitational, with a total of 40 high school teams and 20 middle school teams from 26 different schools. As many as 15 students can be on a team. A few of the teams even traveled from Illinois to compete. One first-year advisor traveled from Iowa to observe.

Along with the students, each team is expected to provide an event supervisor. Schools that are new to Science Olympiad are usually exempt from this requirement.

One of the Belleville teams placed second overall, and Smith said that the students were amazing.

"I put a lot of responsibility on the students," said Smith. "They helped set the rooms up on Friday night and on Saturday, after competing during the day, they helped clean up."

She added that she has received many emails from advisors, coaches, and event supervisors that said that it was a great invitational - very organized and great volunteers.

Founded in 1984, Science Olympiad is one of the premier science competitions in the United States, providing rigorous, standards-based challenges to nearly 8,000 teams in all 50 states.

Smith mentioned that it is the student's responsibility to read through the rules and if they have questions, they can ask for help.

"It also is the student's responsibility to put in a purchase request for needed items, for example, one event requires a clear 150-Watt lightbulb for testing a device," added Smith. "I put a lot on the students, and some are better at managing the responsibilities than others."

Events include: anatomy and physiology, circuit lab; code busters; crime busters; density lab; disease detectives; dynamic planet; experimental design; food science; fossils; game on; heredity; horticulture; machines; meteorology; ornithology; reach for the stars; road scholar; solar power; water quality; write it, do it; boomilever; elastic launch glider; geocaching; mission possible; mousetrap vehicle; ping pong parachute; and robo cross.

Several Science Olympiad alumni returned to Belleville to volunteer during the invitational, including Trevor Thole, Jaden Kieler, Grace Przybyl, and Gary Salmela. Salmela is a freshman at the Illinois Institute of Technology in Chicago. He said he was looking forward to this event all semester.

"I'm enjoying the excitement of the competition and I'm enjoying that I'm not stressing about competing," said Salmela. "I like volunteering and giving back to Science Olympiad because it provided so much for me and I believe that I had a part in building the program in Belleville and encouraging others to participate."

Salmela's sister Gina is a sophomore at Belleville High School, and is competing in similar events that her brother did.

Glenda Salmela coordinated the concession stand for the invitational. She asked, "How do you feed appropriately 900 Science Olympiad kids along with advisors, event supervisors, and volunteers?"

Her answer, "With the best volunteers in the 608 (area code)! Thank you to everyone who helped and donated. I couldn't have done it without you. The concession stand was a success."

Salmela added that she reviewed the numbers from the concession stand last year and tripled the amounts.

Senior Gianna Diaz said that she has enjoyed her four years of Science Olympiad because it offers both a competitive environment and a place to learn more about many topics.

"Our team is one of the highest ranked in the state, and it always brings me joy when we return to the state competition each year," said Diaz.

Sophomore Zach Thole competed in five events and received medals in all events.

"One of the events I wasn't even planning on participating in and I received a first-place medal just by making my best guess," laughed Thole. "There is some stress when participating, but it is SO MUCH fun!"

Junior Jack Nolden has participated in Science Olympiad for the past two years.

"I have competed in events in many fields of science, from technology like code busters and code analysis, to chemistry such as thermodynamics and solar power," explained Nolden. "I have earned more than 50 medals, including four state medals."

Nolden added that one of Belleville's high school teams placed second in their division, "narrowly losing to Boyceville, our rival from the other side of the state. The team members put in many hours in order to prepare for meets and succeed at them. Overall, I think Science Olympiad is a great way to learn, meet new people, and show off your knowledge against schools from around the state."

This year, one of the goals of the Belleville Science Olympiad students is to get a Science Olympiad banner to hang in the gym. They plan on doing some fundraising.

High School Medalists

1st Place: Code Busters: Gianna Diaz, Jacob Kean and Jack Nolden. Designer Genes: Roxana Grunenwald and Zach Thole. Detector Building: James Gustafson and Carson Heller. Experimental Design: Emma Anson, Hansi Bartle and Roxana Grunenwald. Horticulture: Matt Loshaw and Cole Monroe. Machines: Carson Heller and Jack Nolden. Mystery Design: Risandi Bartle and Jordyn Roberts.

2nd Place: Geocaching: Jack Nolden and Zach Thole. Gravity Vehicle: Carson Heller and Logan Niesen. Horticulture: Katie Bowers and Zach Thole. Machines: Matt Loshaw and Cole Monroe. Mystery Design: Hansi Bartle and Mason Schwoegler. Water Quality: Katie Bowers and Zach Thole. Wright Stuff: Hansi Bartle and Logan Niesen.

3rd Place: Forensics: Roxana Grunenwald and Emma Veeneman. Geocaching: Hailey Butenhoff and Michael Walker. Geologic Mapping: Mason Schwoegler and Zach Thole. Robo Cross: Hansi Bartle and Logan Niesen. Solar Power: James Gustafson and Jack Nolden.

4th Place: Boomilever: Hansi Bartle and Logan Niesen. Mystery Design: Dray Kieler and Tyler Stampfl.

Middle School Medalists

*Can include freshmen

1st Place: Heredity: Liam Daugherty and Isaac Erb. Water Quality: Aidan Cook and Veronica Glamm.

2nd Place: Circuit Lab: Isaac Erb and Isaac Russow. Food Science: Ethan Rolfe and Isaac Russow. Geocaching: Ben Johnson and Reid Nolden.

3rd Place: Dynamic Planet: Ben Johnson and Reid Nolden. Meteorology: Lexi Radl and Ethan Rolfe. Ornithology: Aidan Cook and Lexi Radl. Solar Power: Liam Daugherty and Josh Kean.

For more information about Science Olympiad, please contact Meredith Smith at smithm@belleville.k12.wi.us or (608) 513-6773.