I appreciate all of the students who responded to my challenge
and prodding with so many wonderful memories!
Courage to take 4th Place!
at University of Alabama High School Physics Contest
Tuscaloosa, Alabama
Friday February 4, 2005
The University of Alabama hosted the 29th annual High School Physics contest held at the Student Union Center on the main campus in Tuscaloosa. The competition was attended by more than 287 students from Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. Individual testing provided winning competitors with the possibility of winning one of two four year scholarships at this competition. The UMS-Wright Preparatory School Physics Team placed 4th among all private schools. In the private school category UMS-Wright (Mobile, Alabama) was 4th, Briarwood (Birmingham, Alabama) was 3rd, Randolph School (Huntsville, Alabama) was 2nd and Darlington Academy (Rome, Georgia) wast 1st. There were fourteen schools in the private school division.
The UMS-Wright Physics Team consisted of Bradley Johns, Matthew Peterson, Andrew MacRae and Beko Binder. Joseph Bowman supported the team as an alternate. In the “Private Schools Division” the UMS-Wright Team scored 45 points. UMS-Wright was only two questions (out of 20 presented) from the first place team Darlington with 54. Randolph scored 51 points and Briarwood scored 48 points.
The team portion of the competition consists of problems solved by each of the 4 team members individually. Physics problems are presented to one representative of each team at the same time. Those who generate accurate and correct solutions faster to each of the questions earn more points for the team. The sum of all points by all four team members is the team score.
Only the very best Physics students from schools with the strongest programs typically attend this competition. Individual testing is used to determine scholarship offerings. All five of the UMS-Wright competitors were in the top 50% of the of individual test takers. Beko Binder was identified as one of the top ten competitors among the 287 competitors that vied for the scholarships.
Dr. Tim Burgess, observed “This was a young team (three sophomores) that stepped up to compete with some of the finest senior level students in the southeast United States. The fact that this team stayed in the running until the final question of the meet indicates the high degree of skill that our team displayed. This may end a streak of five consecutive first place finishes but does not end the respect and recognition that our competitors have for the Physics Team at UMS-Wright.”
In 1999 the UMS-Wright Physics Team edged into a 3rd place finish for the first time in the history of the competition. In that year a UMS-Wright team member overheard a competition director asking a referee “Where is this school called UMS-Wright?” In the next 5 years the University of Alabama Physics Department chair (or representative) called to offer 12 full four year scholarships to UMS-Wright Physics Team members and handed UMS-Wright five first place team trophies. In two of those years UMS-Wright earned more points than all schools in all divisions (including magnet science schools from three states)! One student who elected to attend the University of Alabama using the Physics Scholarship (won at this competition) is now in a Physics Ph.D. program at the University of California. The directors of the University of Alabama Physics competition are now much more aware of where UMS-Wright is located than they were in 1999.
Academic competition is extremely rigorous. Schools without strong enough programs avoid such events. Only the best schools with the strongest programs will even attend competitions such as the High School Physics Contest because of the possibility of winning. The accomplishment of having five consecutive first place teams from the same school (like UMS-Wright) will likely remain unchallenged by any school for many years to come.
The aim of UMS-Wright is to remain competitive (as we were this year) and to live our prayer:
“...those who follow after Will find in us and example of truth and courage”
