Condon and

Henebry shared an individual gold medal for Wright Stuff, a building event

in which each set of participants constructed up to two rubber motor-powered,

propeller-driven monoplanes. The winning design was determined by the

total flight time, with Condon's and Henebry's aircraft soaring for nearly

four minutes.

Condon also

shared a gold medal with sophomore Caleb Austin for Scrambler, an event

for which the students designed and built a mechanical device capable

of transporting a large, raw chicken egg for up to 12 meters along a straight

track as fast as possible.

Junior Tony

Hung and sophomore Tori Fratto won first place for Dynamic Planet, an

event that emphasizes the use of science processing skills involving meteorology.

The students were required to generate inferences, make observations and

predictions, formulate and evaluate hypotheses, and collect and interpret

a variety of data all within 50 minutes.

Fratto and

junior Kate Schmid also took fifth place for Science of Fitness, which

requires a mastery of physical activity and fitness knowledge, exercise

physiology problems, and measurement skills.

Hung and Nomura

took sixth place for Cell Biology, an event that covers cell structure,

protein synthesis, photosynthesis, cell reproduction, DNA replication,

RNA synthesis, molecular genetics, DNA sequencing and analysis, and DNA

fingerprinting and immunology.

Henebry and

O'Connor finished sixth in Amphibians and Reptiles, which covers the structure,

life history, behaviors, habitat, conservation, distribution, taxonomic

relationships, and identification of these animals.

The national

Science Olympiad competition fields teams from nearly all 50 states. Teams

are limited to 20 students including no more than seven seniors who spend

many hours of their own time preparing for their events.

At the national

competition, McIntosh faces the additional obstacle of competing against

teams from some states who study for the competition as part of their

high school science class.

In addition

to Rawlings, McIntosh science teachers Jay Cawley and Darren Handley and

several parents provide coaching assistance.

"This

competition is a tremendous opportunity for some of our top students to

get some hands-on experience in many areas of math and science,"

Rawlings says. "Our goal each year is to progress through the regional

and state competitions and to attend nationals. The insights the students

gain along the way are invaluable."

Other members

of the 2000-2001 McIntosh Science Olympiad team included Chris Baudhuin,

Michael Condon, Robert Huefner, Daniel Lin, Ben Lorber, John Powers, Reah

Rogers, Chris Taylor, Patrick Thomas, Rik Wyatt, and Tom Wyatt.

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