
                         Roanoke Times
                 Copyright (c) 1995, Landmark Communications, Inc.

DATE: SUNDAY, November 20, 1994                   TAG: 9411210075
SECTION: VIRGINIA                    PAGE: C4   EDITION: METRO 
SOURCE: JAN VERTEFEUILLE STAFF WRITER
DATELINE:                                 LENGTH: Medium

LYNCHBURG, HARRISONBURG TOPS IN SCIENCE

After a morning of challenging competitions on topics from chemistry to genetics Saturday, Lynchburg's E.C. Glass and Harrisonburg high schools walked away with trophies for first place finishes in the regional Science Olympics.

"You get to find out what you know" at the event, said Darin Whitlock after competing in "Biology Jeopardy."

"For my school, I know enough," the Staunton River High School senior said. "For the world, I don't know."

Salem High School came in second behind E.C. Glass in the large school division, followed by Lynchburg's Heritage High School. In the small school division, Radford and James River came in behind Harrisonburg.

Each of 19 regional schools sent four seniors to the annual event, held at Roanoke College and co-sponsored by Bell Atlantic. The teams compete in nine events, such as "Save the Mail," in which they must fire parachutes on a trajectory that intersects a falling mail bag, or "Stacks and Queues," in which they do permutations of strings of letters on a computer. The teams have 13 minutes to complete each event.

The goal is to "just open their eyes to science," said coordinator Frank Munley.

"It's really important that science be associated with fun, and I think they do have fun going around and doing these events," said the Roanoke College physics professor.

Schools try to pick students who have strengths in diverse areas - biology, chemistry, computers - and who enjoy competing, said teachers who accompanied teams.

"It gives students exposure to a college setting and other students in competition," said Bob Lee, a chemistry and physics teacher at Bedford County's Liberty High School.

Some schools take the competition very seriously, holding competition classes several times a week to get ready for such events, said Jefferson Forest chemistry teacher Ed Powell. His school does not prepare that rigorously and he said the Science Olympics was more of a fun event for his students.

"It's a reward for them," Powell said.

Amy Bragg, a Staunton River senior heading into a chemistry event, said, "It's times like this you wish you got to the back of the book."

Added teammate Dennis Weaver, "It's surprising how much you don't know."

by CNB