Lexington High School kids 'dominated the competition'
By Bethan L. Jones/ Staff Writer
Thursday, June 30, 2005
They did it again.
The
Science Olympiad team at Lexington High School rose to the occasion at
the state tournament this year.
"We dominated the competition," said Lexington High School physics teacher David Colarusso.
Colarusso
is one of two coaches for LHS' Science Olympiad Team, a group of
students willing to apply themselves to a variety of academic events
calling on both their intellect and their creativity.
This
year's team was comprised of 18 students who competed in 21 individual
and team events at the state science Olympiad held at Framingham State
College in March. LHS was ranked third overall.
In the past five years, LHS has been consistently in one of the top three spots.
"Our kids are doing spectacular and amazing things in science," said Colarusso.
The
work begins at the beginning of the academic year when Colarusso and
fellow coach Nicholas Gould, also a physics teacher, start putting the
team together. At the initial meeting, they explain the various events
which range from figuring out a physics problem to building a bottle
rocket.
Science
teachers from various backgrounds step up to help prepare the team of
students for the events, meeting with them after school on a weekly
basis.
Colarusso
said part of his role as coach is to help fit the students into the
teams and categories which play to their strengths, with some kids
participating in more than one event.
"The amount of effort [demonstrated by the students] is quite something," said Colarusso.
For
the state competition, "we roster pretty much anyone who stays
interested," said the physics teacher.
The
state Olympiad is like a track meet for academics, with multiple events
taking place at the same time. Once the points are tallied, the number
one ranked team goes on to represent Massachusetts in the national
competition. Colarusso said Lexington made it to nationals four times
in recent years.
This
year, the team came in third behind Acton-Boxborough and
Concord-Carlisle. The LHS showing has the coaches optimistic about next
year's events.
"We're in a really good spot for next year," said Colarusso. "It's a very strong team." | |
|
