Charleston Post & Courier
Thursday, May 17, 2007
West Ashley team snares national science victory
By Diette Courrégé
A group of C.E. Williams Middle School
eighth-graders placed first in the National Science Decathlon in
Seattle over the weekend. Aleigha Blakely, Sara Hilton, Gaylen
Malone, Will Moody , Josh Winkles and Katy Zobel earned second place in
six events and third in another event, giving the West Ashley team
enough points to place first.
The
team qualified for the national competition in February, and this year
marks only the second time C.E. Williams has fielded a team in the
national decathlon. "It wasn't quite as hard as I thought it
would be because we did a good job preparing," Blakely said. The
students stayed after school three days a week and practiced on
Saturdays since November.
Each team member specialized in a few fields of the 10-event
competition, such as physics, robotics, and life. Before going to
the decathlon, students had to build a rubber band-powered cranefly
airplane and a water-pressured rocket. Six events relied on
students' knowledge in areas such as forensics, mineralogy and insects.
Sadie Fox, one of the team's coaches, said the competition helped
students realize "science isn't something you can do in a night. It's a
process that takes time." The team's other coaches were science
teachers Sarah Johnson, Tyson McCormick and Kari Mynatt.
Hilton said she learned about topics that her science class doesn't
cover. "I'm pretty confident that I know how to do the scientific
method, and I know how to program a robot to follow a track," Hilton
said. "It was a lot of fun."
Reach Diette Courrégé at 937-5546 or dcourrege@postand courier.com.
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