South science squad heading to nationals

South science squad heading to nationals
By Andy Graham 331-4215 | agraham@heraldt.com
April 26, 2009

A quote by 19th century British prime minister William Gladstone that now serves as a legal maxim states: “Justice delayed is justice denied.”

But for Bloomington South’s Science Olympiad squad, which now knows it is going to the national championships, obtaining a bit of delayed justice sure beats getting none at all.

South officially finished second to Bloomington North at the state science olympiad contest in March at IUPUI, but if results from the trajectory event had stood as initially posted, South would have won the state title.

Other events also reportedly were muddled to a degree, which isn’t unprecedented in a competition staffed by volunteers, but officials felt that trajectory was mismanaged enough to toss the event out of the final team computations completely. That made North state champion for the eighth time in nine years. And since Indiana was only allowed one automatic berth to the nationals this year — set for May 15-16 in Augusta, Ga. — North got it.

South didn’t begrudge North a berth, but felt it certainly should be going, too. Now, after a squad from Oklahoma dropped out to open up a spot, Bloomington will have two squads at nationals.

“We are really happy, obviously, for the opportunity to have the chance to compete at nationals and receive recognition for all of our hard work,” South biology teacher and science olympiad coach Sabrina Grossman wrote via e-mail Friday. “The students were really upset that a mistake by the competition organizers was their reason for not being able to go to nationals or winning first place in Indiana, so this announcement has really allowed us to move on from the state tournament and concentrate on the future.”

The immediate future will involve some prompt fundraising, now the South has a date in Georgia in three weeks.

Grossman said the community already had been generous and South will conduct a Nationals Car Wash and Fundraising Drive from 11 a.m.-5 p.m. Saturday at Pizza Hut South at 110 E. Winslow Road. South sophomore Marshall Mullins said he thought the amount needed was about $5,000. Tony Gao, a senior, said, “We’ll pay it out of our own pockets, if need be. We’d find a way. Nothing is going to keep us from going now.”

South has eight seniors overall, including alternates, and six on its current competing team — a couple of whom have a little experience with nationals from the last time South won the state title in 2006.

“A couple of us went our freshman year, but not as a part of the competing core team,” Gao said. “Plus, it was held at IU, in our hometown, so maybe it didn’t seem quite as special. But this squad has been a powerhouse for the past couple of decades, and this current team is especially strong, so not getting to go back to nationals to compete would have been hard to handle, especially under the circumstances.”

Mullins noted that North, a blameless beneficiary of the state officials’ decision, wasn’t responsible for the circumstances. “We have friends on their team,” he said. “A real close friend of mine from middle school, Kaela Hawkins, is on their team. We were at Batchelor together.”

Mullins and freshman Ian Carrico had finished second in electric vehicle and fifth in trajectory, only to see the latter results tossed.

“What doesn’t kill you makes you stronger, as they say,” Mullins said about such foibles of life. “We learned something about life from that. I learned something from it — it was my event that was thrown out. Ian Carrico and I stayed after school pretty much every day of the week, from 2-5 p.m., since October. We came in to work weekends, too. Lately, we’ve been at it till 6 p.m. or so. Some people might tell me to get a life, but I really like working at it, and, naturally, we all want to see all that hard work rewarded.”

Elizabeth Sherrill, a senior, said South expects a strong showing at nationals. The team will renew its rivalry with North and has a lofty goal of placing in the national top 10 among the 120 teams competing in 46 events spanning the sciences.

“North finished 10th last year, and that’s a real accomplishment,” she said. “It’s a real challenge, but it’s a good goal for us.”

Ramin Rajaii, one of the seniors who got a taste of nationals as a freshman, said: “For me, freshman year, I don’t think I fully realized the significance. I hadn’t already put in four years of time and effort. Now, I feel a significant difference. It feels well-earned.”

Nationals competition team

SENIORS: Jeff Atwood, Tony Gao, Ramin Rajaii, Hayley Schilling, Elizabeth Sherrill, Jason Wong.
JUNIORS: Alexander Bertoloni-Meli, Josh Fix, Sam Hass, Michael Lukens, Kirsten Wallskog.
SOPHOMORES: Timothy Leake, Marshall Mullins, David Wong.
FRESHMAN: Ian Carrico.
ALTERNATES: Melanie Wallskog, Doh Kyung Kim.
STATE TEAM ALTERNATES: Alex Audretsch, Kyle Bristol, Sara George, Heather Browning, Zach Bretsch.

One more trip for Michael.

LUNA Fest today felt successful. We had a lot of people come by our table and really got the word out, not only on our products but on the Kitchen Incubator altogether. I didn't give near as many sample as I prepared so everybody at work gets cookies tomorrow! I felt like I did a good job talking it up and explaining. We started an email list of people who want to be be notified when the products are available for sale and I think about twenty signed up, which is a good start.

I was so tired when I got home I ate and then fell into bed and slept until the most persistent home teacher IN. THE. WORLD. came and first rang the doorbell, then knocked until I answered. I was kind of grumpy, but I have told him twice that I really would like no contact. The hilarious thing was he (and his wife) brought a plate of chocolate chip cookies! I said "I have two hundred chocolate chip cookies in this house right now and I am diabetic and my son doesn't eat sweets." It's not actually true that Michael doesn't eat sweets, but it is limited - I think he still has Halloween and Christmas candy in his room - and when he does it is very dark chocolate, ice cream, and cookies and like I said, I have 200 cookies!

I hate being mean to HT and I kind of was mean to the missionaries a couple of weeks ago too, but I think it is rude to come over without asking, and in the case of HT, having been asked not to. Also both came when I was sleeping and you know how tired I am lately.

Michael came home from Ed's and didn't talk to Ed at all about the possibility that he will take the SAT next Saturday. He missed the registration deadline, which sort of infuriates me...but we found out that you can show up at the test site the day of the test, pay extra money and take the test. Problem is orchestra contest is the night before and he won't really have enough sleep to take the test. BUT - he needs to take it before a certain deadline for this "Questbridge" scholarship program for which he has registered. He thought he'd just take it the next time it's offered in June - turns out he will be in Paris. Poor boy. So damn it all I have to call Ed and talk to him this week. Ugh. The last voice mail he left me I saved so I could make a transcript of it in case he takes me to court. He wasn't really abusive or anything, but it really was a demonstration of how inflexible he is being with Michael. He said something like. "Fine, but he's coming on the 2nd then, fund raiser or no fund raiser!" What I don't get is why it doesn't occur to Ed that HE could come down here and volunteer and freakin' HELP with the fund raisers and crap and HELP his son accomplish his goals! When Michael is up there he is forced to attend all the sisters' performances and competitions and such. I have always given Ed a calendar of the orchestra events and fund raisers every year and MAYBE they will come to one concert - maybe. Even when Emily took lessons and had recitals I think they only came like two out of five or six years. What a jerk. My parents came more than that and they live farther away and are OLD. And that was even when my mom was still working and she would have to ask off work for it, so I don't think that's a valid excuse.

Enough complaining.

Michael and I were talking about rock and roll cello tonight and I looked up some videos on YouTube and found trio of cellist I really like called Melo-M. Watch some of them they are pretty cool. There was also one of a guy called VonCello playing Black Sabbath's "Iron Man," which was pretty entertaining.

I'd better go try to do a little more cleaning recovery from the weekend. Still things to put away, pictures I was digging through strewn about, foodstuffs and catering equipment that needs stored properly and some person keeps leaving shoes, shoes, shoes everywhere in this house, hmmm...

Positive thoughts toward feeling groovy at work tomorrow and coping, despite my busy weekend.