Saint Gilbert School Students Excel at Science Competitions
Students at St. Gilbert Catholic School in Grayslake participated in the Regional Science Fair as well as the Science Olympiad Competitions this year. Twenty-one 7th and 8th grade students presented their science projects at the IJAS Regional Science Fairs this past March. Jack McKernan earned the William Gonas Award for Best Paper at the paper session and Jack Carvill earned a special award from the Optical Society for his project on optics. In addition, Nathan Timmins earned the Best in Category in Electronics for his project on transmitters, Arun Jayaraman earned a Best in Category in Environmental Science for his project on wood stains and Jack Carvill earned a Best in Category in Physics for his project on optics during the project session which was held on March 17, 2012 at Niles North High School. Due to the numerous Best in Category and gold awards earned by the students, St. Gilbert was awarded 2nd place. Many of these students now advance to the state level IJAS competition to be held at the University of Illinois at Urbana the first weekend in May.
In addition to the science fair which St. Gilbert has been a member of for several decades, St. Gilbert has participated in the Science Olympiad which is a different type of competition. Whereas, students present the science research projects which they have worked on independently for several months at the IJAS Science Fairs, students prepare as a team for about 24 specific events in the Science Olympiad Competitions. These events cover concepts in the various areas of science; life, physical, Earth, technology and engineering. Students are asked to show expertise in a variety of ways: 1) through a written test on concepts such as the digestive system or transference of diseases; 2) performance of experiments such as analysis of powders to determine the suspect in a crime, or using the scientific method to create an experiment; 3) communication of information through the use of computers or written direction or 4) construction of devices according to specific parameters and then demonstrate that the device does indeed perform within specifications.
The team has competed in the Regional Science Olympiad Competitions for about 5 years. Fifteen 6th through 8th grade students competed this year at the Regional Science Olympiad held on March 10, 2012 at the College of Lake County. Each member of the team earned a medal in at least one event. Due to their hard work and team work, St. Gilbert earned 8th place which qualified the team to compete at the State Science Olympiad held April 14, 2012 at the University of Illinois in Urbana. This is the 2nd time the school has advanced to the state level. The team earned medals in 6 events, which was better than their performance last year, in which they earned medals in 2 events.
It takes a lot of dedication from the students and parents to work on the events which are begun in September. Being a relatively small school with no budget for extra-curricular activities, the team is really supported by the parents. The parents donate time and resources which are considerable, especially in the building events, such as the trebuchet, towers and mousetrap cars. With the support of the school's principle, the team is already beginning to think about next year and hoping that we can qualify for state again.