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About The independent. (Vernonia, Or.) 1986-current | View Entire Issue (Feb. 20, 2002)
The IN D E P E N D E N T , F e b ru a ry 2 0 , 2 0 0 2 Page 9 VHS students get, and give, a practical lesson in government State legislators, in Salem for a special budget session, were targets of a hands-on les son in government and current e v e n ts ...ta jg h t by a bus-load of Vernonia High School stu dents. Accompanied by teachers Steve Calhoun and Patty Dick ens, the students attended the budget-balancing session to deliver a message to state sen ators and representatives about the negative effects of further reductions in education al support. The special session ended in a stalemate, with no agree ment between the governor and the legislature. Hearings have started and another ses sion will be convened to re sume negotiations. Three Vernonia teams tackle competition in Leaving Vernonia at 5:30 a.m., seventeen ju n io r high school students from W ashing ton Grade School accompanied jun io r high science teacher Chris McNeill to the Annual Middle School Science Bowl, where they joined more than 150 m iddle school students from Washington and Oregon on February 9 at the Vancou ver, Wash., campus of W ash ington State University. This event is sponsored by Bon neville Power, among others, and is run by volunteer em ploy ees of Bonneville. The top two teams from the regional event w ill travel to Washington, D.C. in March to vie with teams from throughout the nation in the first national middle school championship. Like their athletic peers, Sci ence Bowl participants have been in training, building their skills, sharpening their wits and perfecting their team strategies. The BPA Science Bowl is one of the few events in which stu dents can meet their academic counterparts from other schools, flex their intellectual brawn and be acknowledged for their achievement. The tournam ent-style aca demic competition challenges and recognizes students’ knowledge of science, math, com puter technology and sci entific current events. Teams of students engage in a round robin competition in the morn ing. Usually, four rounds are played and teams winning the most rounds advance into the afternoon double elimination. Each match consists of a timed session in which a mod erator asks questions which Country Kitchen & Pizza BREAKFAST • LUNCH • DINNER Soup & Salad Bar • Pies & Pastries “SOFT SERVE” CONES & SHAKES Home of the Paul Bunyan Burger Across from High School Orders To Go 503-429-6523 DELIVERY AVAILABLE may be answered by any stu dent on either team. The ques- tion-and-answer format compe tition is modeled after television game shows, using a lock-out buzzer system. Students are recognized then given the op portunity to respond. With a correct answer, the team is awarded four points and the opportunity to answer a bonus question for an additional ten points with another correct an- Here are some sam ple questions: PHYSICS, Multiple Choice: The random movement of dust particles in a room is an example of (W) Inelastic collisions. (X) Elastic collisions. (Y) Brownian motion. (Z) Vortexes. ANSWER: tion (Y) Brownian Mo CHEMISTRY, Multiple Choice: Crystals of ice are (W) isometric. (X) tetragonal. (Y) hexagonal. (Z) orthorhombic ANSWER: (Y) hexagonal EARTH SCIENCES, Multiple Choice: Approximately how many known minerals are there on Earth? (W) (X) (V) (Z) 400 2,000 4,000 10,000 ANSWER: (Y) 4000 PA Science Bowl swer. The team with the most points at the end of the session is the winner of that match. Each participating school builds its own teams consisting of four student contestants and two alternates each. Washing ton Junior High entered three teams this year. The A and B teams both qualified for the double elim ination, winning three and four rounds, respec tively. The C team didn’t do as well and was eliminated in the morning competition. However, the C team was all seventh graders, whose com petition was entirely A teams composed of eighth graders. Afternoon matches proved to be difficult, as W GS’s A and B teams were both eliminated after three rounds, winning one and losing two. This resulted in a finish tied for twelfth place. Participating in the compete- tion for Vernonia were Ben Schorzm an, Damon McNeill, Kevin Johnston, Sam Thornton, Jacob Hales and Alex Bittinger on the A team. The B team con sisted of John Fitch, Zach Ser- afin, Paul Ogden, Dalen Lee, Seth Brock and Jessica Tar- rence. On the C team were Am ber Abney, Sam Sears, Brent Thompson, Ryan Peets and Nick Hammons. Only Schorz man and Thornton are in the eighth grade, all of the others are in seventh grade. Receiving individual honors was John Fitch for answering 25 questions. Ben Schorzman answered 16 and missed an in dividual award by one answer. McNeill was very pleased with the students’ performance and looks forward to next year, when most of the students will be eighth graders. The BPA Science Bowl is the largest and oldest regional competition in the nation. Mist School schedules “Mad Science Read-A-Thon for science program It is not too late to sponsor a reader for the first ever Mist Grade School Mad Science Read-A-Thon Fundraiser! The event kicks off March 2 (Dr. S euss’ birthday) and ends March 10. During this nine day period, students will be given credit for each hour they read outside of regular classroom time. They will be reading to raise money for Mad Science, an eight week, hands-on sci ence program that will begin at Mist Grade School after spring break. Sponsor an individual Mist Grade School student reader by signing their pledge sheet or by phoning Mist Grade School at 503-755-2486. Pledge an am ount per hour or a fixed amount.
