Physics Competition Win 2001!

I appreciate all of the students who responded to my challenge 

and prodding with so many wonderful memories!

UMS-Wright Wins 1st & 2nd

at Alabama High School Physics Contest 2001!

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, February 2, 2001

    UMS-Wright students  won 1st & 2nd place in the regular school division at the 25th Annual University of Alabama High School Physics Contest held  at the Ferguson Center on the University of Alabama campus in Tuscaloosa, AL.  Three hundred forty students on more than forty teams (twenty different schools) participated.      The prestigious University of Alabama High School Contest attracted outstanding teams of students from outstanding Physics programs in  Mississippi, Alabama and Tennessee this year.  

The UMS-Wright A-Team won 1st in the regular school division.  Members of the team  included Hunter Shain, James Saad, Alex Moore and Will Moseley.  The  UMS-Wright B-Team won 2nd in the regular school division.   Members of the B-Team included Brantley Beaird, Brandon Pontius, Logan Gewin and Larry Hu.  The scores for both teams far outstripped regular schools.  The UMS-W A-Team outscored the highest schools in the Math & Science Magnet School Division. [Only the Homewood High School team scored higher that the UMS-Wright A-Team.]

   Alex Moore of UMS-Wright was recognized for obtaining the third highest individual score at the competition. 

   Dr. Tim Burgess, observed  “Clearly the senior class has established a new UMS-Wright tradition.  They have placed in this prestigious competition as members of the A-Team each of  the last three  years.   It is a credit to both their talent and work ethic.“

SHORT PROSE VERSION

     The UMS-Wright stunned more than 39 Physics Teams from Alabama, Mississippi and Tennessee at the prestigious 25th Annual University of Alabama High School Physics Contest on Friday, February 2nd

     The UMS-Wright A-Team manned by Hunter Shain, James Saad, Alex Moore and Will Moseley finished in 1st Place.  The UMS-Wright B-Team of  Brantley Beaird, Brandon Pontius, Logan Gewin and Larry Hu won 2nd Place decisively with a 40% margin of victory over the next highest team.  The points acquired by both UMS-Wright Teams outstripped even the highest scoring teams in the Math & Science Magnet School division.

     This year marked the third consecutive year that UMS-Wright has taken third place or higher at this prestigious competition.  UMS-Wright has won the 1st Place Team Award for two consecutive years.  Alex Moore posted a 3rd place individual performance among 340 participants.

UMS-Wright A-Team Members:

Hunter Shain, James Saad, Alex Moore, Will Moseley

UMS-Wright B-Team Members:

Brantley Beaird, Brandon Pontius, Logan Gewin, Larry Hu

Alternate: Luke Burgess

Individual Awards:

Tied for 3rd Alex Moore

Physics Competition Champions 2000!

I appreciate all of the students who responded to my challenge 

and prodding with so many wonderful memories!

Tuscaloosa, Alabama, February 4, 2000

    UMS-Wright students  won 1st overall at the 24th Annual University of Alabama High School Physics Contest held  at the Ferguson Center on the University of Alabama campus.  One team of four students from UMS-Wright Preparatory School placed 1st  among all teams.  A second team from UMS-Wright tied for 2nd in the regular school division.

       The prestigious University of Alabama High School Contest attracts teams of students from the best Physics programs in  Mississippi, Alabama, Georgia, Florida and Tennessee.  The UMS-Wright A-Team scored the highest point total of all schools in all divisions.  The UMS-Wright B-Team scored enough points to win 2nd place.  Sam Lair of UMS-Wright Preparatory School won 3rd place in the individual competition which  was based on a 90 minute written physics test administered to all students at the competition.

       Dr. Tim Burgess, observed  “I have never seen a Mobile area school dominate this prestigious  contest as was done today.  The UMS-Wright Physics Team displayed talent, composure and tremendous skill in all phases of this competition. Sam Lair and Will Moseley  provided the type of leadership that lead this team to unparalleled success.

UMS-Wright A-Team Performance

Sam Lair, Will Moseley, Alex Moore, James Saad

    The cipher competition included an exciting come from  behind effort in the second round.  While the team was in fourth place Will Moseley answered a string of  difficult problems that few other competitors answered successfully.  In the following rounds Alex Moore and James Saad increased the lead with answers to problems in kinematics, dynamics, energy, electricity and modern physics.  James Saad scored the most team points (16 points)

UMS-Wright B-Team Performance

Brent Vegliacich, Hunter Shain, Brantley Beaird, Ian MacRae

     The score of the UMS-Wright B-Team tied the second place score in the regular school division.   Hunter Shain scored a team high 13 points.  The B-Team could only be awarded second place if  no other UMS-Wright team had  won [only one team from any  one school can get an award]. 

2000 University of Alabama

High School Physics Contest

at the Ferguson Center at the University of Alabama 

on Friday, February 4, 2000

UMS A-Team

1st Place

Overall

UMS-W B-Team

2nd Place

in regular school division

Presidential Award in Science 1992!

Ten years after my first full time teaching position I was awarded a
1992 Presidential Award for 
Excellence in Science and Mathematics Teaching
by the National Science Foundation

      That is the envelope that arrived in the mail with my Presidential Award notice from the White House.  The letter was awesome.

       My marriage and six children are first so that makes this the 9th most memorable event in my life!  It was wonderful to share this event with my wife that included a trip to Washington D.C. with a stay at push hotels, dinners at the White House, talk with national science adviser, spend time with the president, share dinner with the science teacher of his daughter then spend another two days snowed in and unable to depart.  We used the time walking through the snow about the area and explored the Smithsonian Museum of Natural History.
       You spent much of your time going up on a stage to meet dignitaries and accept letters and trinkets and get your picture taken.  Everyone got to shake the hand of the president.  I spent a lunch with "Bill Nye the Science Guy" and a science teacher from Sidwell Friends School that taught the president's daughter (at that time she was in middle school).  The conversation I remember was shared by the science teacher who said that because the president's daughter felt ill and wanted an aspirin that had to call her parents.  They asked her "Which parent do you want us to call?" she said "My Dad.  My mother is very busy."

       The other story I remember was the president speaking on the West Wing of the White House.  President Bill Clinton shared how he always had trouble in math and algebra and never understood it fully and then after he got out of school he wondered "Why did I learn all that algebra and advance math...I never use it.  Now I have a daughter taking algebra and she is always needing help.  So no I know I learned it so I could help my daughter when she had to take it!"
       The most fun was having my wife there with me!

          In the letter below Dr. F. Neff Weber writes a recommendation I will always hold dear.  He knows who I am, he knows me as a person, he know me as a student and at a teacher.  No one was more qualified to write a letter evaluating me as professionally or as a person.  I was touched to read it! 

      On March 11, 1993 this is a picture of me in a daze after a full day of meeting dignitaries and the president.  The new president, Bill Clinton, did not pose for individual pictures which each award winner as the previous presidents had but he did meet with us and shared his gratitude for what the science and math teachers honored that year were doing for the county.

External Link
https://www.edweek.org/ew/articles/1993/04/28/31honors.h12.html

==============

Some of the fun I have  had as a teacher is here!

https://drbreminices.blogspot.com/2019/09/awesome-times-documented.html

“Physics First” was a department wide change in science sequence that I wanted to implement if able to.

It was cool to be able to oversee such a change prior to retirement!

https://physicsfirstworks.blogspot.com/2017/03/physics-first-starter.html

Windsor Connecticut Athletic Hall of Fame

     Competition was important to me growing up.  Serving as a member of a team taught me valuable lessons about training, discipline, preparation and doing what my team needed done.  My coach moved me into positions that he thought would help the team. He was right about a number of moves because that team won a championship.  42 years later I was able to visit with that team again and tell them of the impact competition had on my role as an academic coach and educator.