High school scientists take flight

Doug Tabbert

Planes soared, eggs dropped and rockets fired when Golden West

College hosted the Science Olympiad for students from 16 Orange

County schools on Friday.

The annual competition, consisting of dozens of challenging

events, incorporated the gamut of science. It aims to stoke student’s

enthusiasm for science while fanning their competitive fire. The top

two schools in each division go on to compete in the Southern

California Sectionals.

“It is about science enrichment for these kids,” said Carol

Grimes, one of the coordinators for the Olympiad. “We look forward to

good science and good fun.”

Under the pressure of a time clock, high school students directed

robots they constructed to obtain and move certain objects. Plastic

bottle rockets powered by compressed air and water competed for

maximum hang time.

Middle school students constructed bridges made of balsa wood, and

high school students, using the same materials, constructed

cantilevers. Both were tested for strength.

In “the Wright stuff” competition, airplanes of thin balsa wood

and tissue paper dipped, dove, crashed and soared in the gymnasium.

The planes were allowed plastic propellers that were powered by

tightly wound rubber bands. Dihedral, or upward turned wings, are

pretty common in this competition explained retired Boeing employee

and volunteer science teacher Larry Doan.

“They make them fly real nice,” he said.

Roger Call, a 13-year-old Santiago Middle School student described

watching his plane fly as nerve racking. Call’s plane was airborne

for one minute and 43 seconds -- the winning flight time. It soared

gently, in a hypnotizing circle flight path until room ran out.

Call’s plane was forced into a b-line along the ceiling by the

raised basketball apparatus, which it smacked. The plane descended

shortly after, but not before a couple of stylish swoops and loops

over the ooh-ing and ah-ing crowd sitting in the bleachers.

Regardless of the lengthy design process and multiple variables

that these young scientists negotiate, luck frequently takes center

stage.

“I didn’t know if it’s going to end up getting stuck in a wire or

a basketball net,” Call said.

Students hooted and hollered for the teams that were awarded with

medals at the end of the day. El Rancho Charter Middle School won the

overall middle school division, and Villa Park High School captured

the gold in the high school division.

“It was wonderful to see all that enthusiasm for winning a medal

in science,” Grimes said.