GIRLS NAB STATE SCIENCE PRIZE FOR SECOND YEAR IN A ROW
Who says boys are better at science? Not the girls at St. Mary’s Academy! The 15-member St. Mary’s team continued to put a new face on the scientists and engineers of tomorrow with their consistent show of scientific prowess. For the second year in a row, the team carried the state-wide high school Science Olympiad competition to win state and head to Washington, DC at the end of May to compete nationally. The team’s teacher, Julia Stadler, was named “Outstanding Coach” of the competition, as well.
This year’s competition was a nail-biter all the way to the end, with former 2006 champion Corvallis High School back in the mix, and a tie-breaker with Liberty High School to determine the winner. All of the St. Mary’s participants won an award in the 23-category competition, in which they were tested on academic and practical knowledge in aerodynamics, physics, engineering, oceanography, robotics, electronics, experimental design, genetics, geology, and chemistry.
“The understanding of science is critical to our young women as they enter college and the world beyond,” says Principal Pat Barr. “We are so proud that, in only our second year of competition, this organization has repeated the acknowledgment of our students’ hard work and their mastery of science concepts and application.”
Of the 23 categories in which the St. Mary’s students participated, five were build-ahead projects which were brought to the event. These included the boomilever, robot ramble, Wright Stuff, electric vehicle, and Sounds of Music. The boomilever project was to build a structure out of wood and glue that could be mounted to a wall with a pail of sand suspended from the end. The goal was to support the most sand per gram of boomilever’s mass. St. Mary’s scored second. The aim of the robot ramble was to build a remote-controlled robot that would place objects in a box. Again, the girls scored second. For the Wright Stuff, the students built a rubber-band-powered airplane to stay aloft as long as possible. They received second.
For the electric vehicle project, the girls built a car and had to predict how long the vehicle would take to travel a pre-determined distance, while staying on a straight path. Due to a technology bug, the students scored fourth, but at a previous invitational, their vehicle arrived within inches and a few seconds of the predicted goal distance and time. In the Sounds of Music competition, the girls built two musical instruments and performed both “God Bless America” and a chosen piece. They also had to complete an interview on the physics of sound. In this category, St. Mary’s scored first.
“I am so proud of our students,” says “Outstanding Coach” Stadler. “They kept getting really hard questions that they weren’t sure about, but their science training, strong lab discipline and academic rigor paid off.”
Stadler worked for years to assemble a state team from the all-girls St. Mary’s Academy and, in 2007, their first year, they won the right to represent Oregon at the National Finals. She continued the success this year, guiding the extra-curricular team through after-school sessions for the past few months.
“It’s wonderful to work at St. Mary’s where it’s okay to be a science ‘nerd’ and our student body is very supportive of our team,” says Stadler. “Other schools have different experiences.”
The 15 students who competed this year are Denise Auld, Caitlin Bannan, Caroline Brickell, Megan Chapman, Lorena Galvan, Sophie Gist, Annie Golding, Kim Kilday, Moira Mackay, Emily McFadden, Marissa Rodriguez, Penny Scudder, Meg Stuckey, Maryann Tung, Michelle Warner, and Amy Whitcombe.
“It was a wonderful competition this year because we got to make friendships and meet such a nice, classy bunch of outstanding kids from other schools,” says Stadler. “The other teams were mostly boys, but it was really fun to compete with them.”
Although they are very excited, now Stadler and her team begin the hard part of preparing to represent Oregon at the national finals. They will need to meet more often, study harder and, in addition to other school tasks, raise money for what was a marvelous result. To help the team with airfare and lodging expenses, please contact Julia Stadler at St. Mary’s Academy – julias@stmaryspdx.org.
Founded in 1859 by the Sisters of the Holy Names of Jesus and Mary, St. Mary’s Academy of Portland, is Oregon’s oldest continuously operating secondary school and one of 716 all-female schools in the country. The student body represents a diverse background of young women from over 30 urban, suburban, and rural communities in Oregon and Southwest Washington. St. Mary’s Academy is distinguished by its development of the whole person, and is the only school in the state to receive three U.S. Department of Education Blue Ribbon Schools awards.
