Thurston High School Science Olympiad
Region 8 Wayne County Science Olympiad
 

About 
Science Olympiad

What is the 
Science Olympiad?

Thurston Host 
Regional Tournament 

Thurston's Team 

Pierce Science
Olympiad  Team

About Science Olympiad

  1. What is the Science Olympiad?

  2. Thurston Host Regional Tournament 

  3. Thurston's Team 

  4. Who is was Ken Otto?

  5. Volunteers make the difference?

  6. Pierce Middle School Science Olympiad Team

 

What is the Science Olympiad?
 Eleanor Sheposh, Thurston Science Teacher Regional Science Olympiad Directors

WHAT IS THE SCIENCE OLYMPIAD?

The Science Olympiad is people devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for achievement in science education. All across the nation, in every state, there is a Science Olympiad. Its goals are accomplished though classroom activities, research and training workshops, and the tournaments.

Each tournament is a competition consisting of individual and team events which students prepare for during the school year. The competitions are modeled after popular board games, TV shows, and athletic games. These challenging and motivational events are well balanced between the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, environmental science, and technology. There is also a balance between events requiring knowledge of science facts, concepts, processes, skills, and applications.

I have always called our competitors “intelletes,” because students work towards academic excellence. The primary goal of the Science Olympiad, therefore, is to elevate science education and learning to one of enthusiasm and excitement. The architect of the Science Olympiad is Jack Cairns of Delaware. A Michigan educator, Gerard Putz, science e educator in Macomb County, brought the Olympiad idea to Michigan 22 years ago. Since then, this teacher-driven activity has grown to the point where the Michigan Science Olympiad has 15 regions around the state, with more than 500 schools participating. I serve as the Regional Director of Region 8 (Wayne County), and the perennial coaches of the Thurston team. I have been active in the Olympiad since its second year of existence. I coached my first team while at Pierce Junior High, back in the early ‘80’s. I have been devoted to it ever since.

In 1992, the Wayne County region had no home. I went to Mr. Stewart Schauder, my principal at Thurston, prepared to provide him with an extensive rationale for bringing the regional to Thurston. I was delighted when he said yes without a long dialogue on my part. Ever since that time, the Wayne County region has grown to almost triple in size. I am so proud when other schools are amazed that my district has given this activity such unqualified support., Every year, at the awards ceremony, my administration is there to award medals to all the kids who come for this event. This year we have almost 40 middle schools and 30 high schools participating.

Back to Top

Thurston Host Regional Tournament  Held at U of M Dearborn

Events are held indoor and outdoors throughout the Thurston campus some events are: Bottle Rockets, Pentathlon, The Wright Stuff, Mission Possible, and more. All science disciplines, physics, chemistry, biology, earth science and environmental sciences are represented in the Science Olympiad.

The top eight teams form the middle schools division and the top five teams from the senior high division will go to Michigan State University in April for the state competition. Winners to the tenth place receive medals for the events.

Events begin at 9:15 a.m. and continue until 2:05 with the award ceremony following. Join us for a day of fun and excitement. 
Back to Top

   The Student Commitment

Mrs. Sheposh has been a Science Olympiad coach for 23 years that this fun activity for kids has been in existence.
Over time many of her Olympians have graduated and returned to become event supervisors.

Back to Top

Who is  Ken Otto?

    KEN OTTO REMEMBERED AND HONORED

     Ken Otto was a member of my very first Science Olympiad team when he and I were both at Pierce Junior High. He remained an eager team member until he graduated from high school. Ken loved science, computers, and music; and he loved competing in the tournaments.

     I will always remember Ken for his fun loving spirit and his tenacity. As a junior high student, he was rather small for his age, and, as a result, he was shy and unsure of himself. Yet, he was very competitive and was highly motivated to win. I remember when he was first diagnosed with leukemia. It seems the entire Redford community came forward to help raise the necessary funds to find a bone marrow donor. Throughout the nine weeks of fund raising, Ken worked with all of us. I have never seen that kind of strength in someone so young. That strength was still with him after his transplant operations.

     I remember the week that he died. A member of Ken’s high school class called me from Florida. He was sad and heart broken. He told me that when he was a freshman, he was always self-conscious because he did not learn as quickly as the other students. He told me that he and Ken were good friends because they helped each other. Ken was smart and helped his friend with his studies. This young man was handsome and attracted the girls like flies attract honey. So Ken got to meet a lot of girls. 

     Ken never let anything get in his way. He never let his insecurities get in his way. He never walked away from a challenge. So he grew in confidence and became more accomplished both academically and socially as the years went on. 

     This driving spirit is what probably gave Ken the unwavering desire to live in the face of leukemia. He went through procedure after procedure, sure that he would prevail. He ran the race of his life. When his race finished, his body may have been broken, but not his spirit. Death took the body that failed him, yet we have been left with that spirit that says never give up.

     The Pentathlon is an event that exemplifies the heart and soul of the Science Olympiad. It is a team event in which four team members, racing against time, must complete an obstacle course while stopping along the way to perform science activities representing the disciplines of physics, chemistry, biology, environmental science, and earth science. Team members must do all this and not drop the water-filled balloon that each is required to carry. 

     George and Diane Otto have consented to honor their son’s race for life by allowing the Wayne County Regional Science Olympiad to name the Pentathlon event in Ken’s memory. The first place schools in each division, in addition to receiving first place medals for the Pentathlon, receive a cash award to enhance science programs in their schools.
Back to Top

THE THURSTON HIGH SCHOOL
 Volunteer Spirit

The Wayne County Science Olympiad is a huge undertaking. According to Eleanor Sheposh, Regional tournament director, bringing teams from area middle schools and high schools to compete in 40 science events involves gathering event supervisors, organizing the site, and arranging for non-stop eating by the students. It is a true labor of love. 

A vital element in making this event happen, however, is the more than 100 Thurston science volunteers. They are the glue that holds the tournament together. They are found everywhere on tournament day. Some of the students are event supervisors, while others work in food service, scoring the events, setting up rooms, helping with the opening and awards ceremonies, or running messages to their destinations.
Most prominent are the student ambassadors who help direct students or families and friends to the various sites around the campus. The tournament would not run well without these marvelous young people.

Special thanks, to all who continue to make the Science Olympiad a successful event. 

 Science Olympiad March 19, 2005

On Saturday, March 19, Thurston High School hosted the 22nd Annual Wayne County Regional Tournament. Thurston has hosted the tournament for the past 13 years.

The day was filled with fun and excitement as hundreds of participants from 60 Wayne County schools competed in events at Thurston. The events provide middle and high school coaches and students the opportunity to compete in academic and scholastic experiments.

Michelle Van Well a Pierce Middle parent comments about the event,  "This was my first year experience with the Science Olympiad event and I was completely surprised at the number of participants. Seeing such a large crowd of participants involved in this academic event was really fantastic."

New events to this year's Olympiad included: Fermi Questions, Chemical ID, Forensics, Compute This, and Health and Science. Winning teams in both the middle and high school divisions are awarded a $100 prized for enhancement of their school's science program.

Science Olympiad 2004

      Science Olympiad awards ceremony                                                                      
    Saturday, March 20, 2004, Thurston High school hosted the Wayne County Science Olympiad Regional Tournament for the twelfth time. Sixty-six schools, 
28 high school and 38 middle schools, participated in this year's event. 


District administrators, and Board of Education members were on hand to distribute medals to the winners to the 10th place. 

       
 Pierce students receive congratulations from South Redford
Board of Education, President, Darryl Husk (center) and 
Board of Education, Treasurer, Robert E. Tripp (far right). 

Board of Education 

                                                                            Thurston students had an excellent showing, 7th in the overall ratings, all participants won medals. Thurston also took 1st place in the Ken Otto Memorial Pentathlon. This award provides $100 for the science program for the winning team's school. 


         Mike Colombo, Natalie Wasio, Sarah Kinney, 
     Jeremy Scheckell, and Bill Weber, superintendent.  

    The top eight teams from the middle school division and the top five teams from the senior high division will attend the state competition at Michigan State University on May 1, 2004.  


Pierce Middle school students left to right: 
Matt Hauser, Clifford Jolley, and Alex Tripp received medals for the Mission Possible event. 
Also shown Board members Michael McCann (far right), Dr. Robert Tripp, and Darryl Husk. 

           
Pierce Middle school 2000 - 04 Science Olympiad participations 

                                                                   Thurston Teams 

    Thurston Teachers are an active part of the    Olympiad. Teachers help with the teams. Rookie Physics teacher, Mike Giromini, helps with tall the construction events. Jeremy Sabatini, not only supervises the bottle rocket event, but also, servers as an assistant coach with Sheposh. Bill Muse helps with all the chemistry events. He is the event supervisor for the Chemistry lab. John Bingamon supervises the dynamic planet event. Eric Nelson, math teacher, supervises practical data gathering. Eleanor Sheposh is head coach for Thurston team and direst the regional tournament. 

 Thurston Student Team 2003 -2004 

Ryan Archer - Senior  Joey Thompson - Junior 
Mike Colombo - Senior  Natalie Wasio - Junior 
Robert Considine - Senior Robert Evich - Sophomore
Sarah Kinney  - Senior  Casey Keys  - Sophomore
Jeremy Scheckell - Senior  Adam Loskowski - Sophomore
Sarah Bullington - Junior Ruchir Sud   Sophomore
Lauren Graham  - Junior   Scott Tripp - Sophomore
Rebecca Rousseau - Junior   

 

 

 

 

 

Back to Top
Author information goes here.
Copyright © 2004 South Redford School District.  All rights reserved.
Revised: September 11, 2006 .

http://southredford.net/