Olympic Champions!
Washington Township High School Places First, Second at New Jersey Physics Olympics Regional Competition
WASHINGTON TOWNSHIP – Washington Township High School students certainly made the most of hosting the New Jersey Section of the American Association of Physics Teachers (NAAPT) 2018 Physics Olympics. Teams of WTHS students placed first and second overall in the event held on Saturday, January 13, 2018 in the school’s Cafeteria C/D.
The first-place team included Brianna Myers, Mason Brewster, Eric Toreki, Catlin O’Brien and Niko Figueroa. The second-place group was made up of Laura Dressel, James Gallicchio, Hunter Gogoj, William Myers and Dylan Adriano. WTHS physics teachers Shannon Hornibrook and Denise Merrill served as the teams’ coaches.
Teams were made up of up to six students each, who completed a series of physics-related challenges, including:
· Fermi question: to estimate the order of magnitude of a quantity that is difficult or impossible to measure.
· Greatest Acceleration Vehicle: construct a four-wheeled vehicle, propelled using only the energy supplied by a mouse trap(s), which will transport the greatest load with the greatest average acceleration
· Collapsing Tower: cause a domino from a tower of dominos to land in a collapse zone as far away from the base of the tower as possible
· Penny Cantilever: build a penny cantilever that extends as far as possible off of a table without any attached supports
· Grab Bag: teams will be given supplies to build a device that solves a challenge
· Coffee Can Racer: design and build a coffee can racer that will roll down a ramp in the greatest amount of time.
In the photo at top, WTHS first-place Physics Olympics team poses with the "Physics Bowl." They include (left to right) Mrs. Denise Merrill (coach) Brianna Myers, Mason Brewster, Eric Toreki, Catlin O’Brien and Niko Figueroa, Mrs. Shannon Hornibrook (coach).
- WTPS -