State Champ Oxford High Team Headed to National Science Olympiad in Wisconsin

University of Mississippi Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter visits with members of the Oxford High State Championship Science Olympiad Team on the eve of departure to Wisconsin.

The 17-member State Champion Oxford High School Science Olympiad team left early this morning to compete in the 2016 National Science Olympiad tournament at the University of Wisconsin-Stout. The Oxford team beat out 22 other high school science teams in Mississippi to win the Mississippi Science Olympiad C Division state championship. But that wasn’t the team’s only accomplishment. In order to make the trip, the team had to raise $15,000 in three weeks to cover expenses, which they did.

“With such a big dollar amount to raise, at first the captains were saying there’s no way we can do this,” said the team’s Coach Jim Reidy, a science teacher at Oxford High. “But, our team captains rallied the group, and they set out to raise the funds. Their organizational skills were impeccable. They used the same kind of teamwork skills that won them the state championship to raise the money.”

When HottyToddy.com asked the team captains about their fundraising success, One of the four team captains, Matthew Wilkin, said, “We made lists of people and businesses that everyone knew. We sent out letters, and then our team members followed up in person. Everyone we talked to was so supportive. It was amazing.”

When the team was in the last stretch of fundraising and was about 20% shy of its goal, that’s when William A. Alias, III of Seccurity Holdings, LLC, HottyToddy.com, and Chancellor Vitter were contacted. Their contributions helped complete the goal (see complete list below).

The team recounted challenges in the state competition such as when their robot arm failed to work the night before an event and their electric car stopped running the day of the competition. But that’s where the very essence of the word “team” team kicked in.

“We have a lot of people who are amazing at testing events and others who are great at the building events,” said Captain Robert Hall. “So if one isn’t doing so well, the others are there to take up the slack and score more points.”

https://youtu.be/eg4-mwqoUl0

Team captains, all seniors: Matthew Wilkin, Kayla Owens, Chris Zhao, Robert Hall and Coach Jim Reidy.

About the National Science Olympiad

National Public Broadcasting segment showing the excitement of the National Science Olympiad.

For the past 32 years, the Science Olympiad has helped students across the nation get more involved in science and the use of science through each competition. Each year, school students from across the nation compete in “rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of individual and team events, which students prepare for during the year.” The team has a chance to win prizes and awards in the competition areas such as anatomy and physiology, astronomy, wind power, bridge building, protein modeling and forensics.

The event format gives large companies like 3M, Cardinal Glass, Boeing along with Air Force and Army, who are sponsors of the event, a chance to identify rising scientific talent much the way scouts at a high school athletic event do.

The students will be tested in their knowledge of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers and technology. The events that students will perform in order to test their knowledge will follow the formats of popular board games, television shows and athletic games.

Students and teams who compete in the Science Olympiad tournaments are eligible to win scholarships, trips to national conferences and cash prizes.

Oxford High School National Science Olympiad Team Members on the steps of the University of Mississippi Lyceum with Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter. Front row: Joshua Caraway, Isuru Hewamanna, Kayla Owens, Nitin Ankisetty, Shahbaz Gul  Middle row: Chancellor Jeffrey Vitter, Shawn Chao, Tamjeed Azad, Chris Zhao, Matthew Wilkin, Team Coach James Reidy Back row: Anish Ravishankar, Jeffrey Wang, Lee Brewer, James Cutler, Robert Hall, Tycho Jenkins

Oxford High School
State Championship Science Olympiad Team

Robert Hall, captain
Kayla Owens, captain
Chris Zhao, captain
Matthew Wilkin, captain

Nitin Ankisetty
Tamjeed Azad
Lee Brewer
Joshua Caraway
Shawn Chao
James Cutler
Shahbaz Gul
Isuru Hewamanna
Dylan Howard
Ash Hurdle
Tycho Jenkins
Anish Ravishankar
Jeffery Wang

Jim Reidy, Coach

Contributors: Oxford Individuals and Businesses Who Contributed

• Ace Hardware
• Ashley Furniture
• Baptist Memorial Hospital
• Belk Ford
• Burch Realty Group
• Cline Tours
• Dr. Allen Ligon
• Dr. and Mrs. Patel
• Elsohly Laboratories
• First National Bank of Oxford
• Hat Boy Software
• Home Depot
• HottyToddy.com
• Jones and Schneller, P.A.
• Maxx South
• Medical Marketing Economics
• Mike Hurdle
• Mr. and Mrs. Adinolfi
• National Center for Physical Acoustics
• Neilson’s
• Northwest Mississippi Community Foundation
• Oxford Orthopedics
• Oxford School District Parent Teacher Orginization
• Oxford Tourism
• Rainbow Cleaners
• School of Engineering
• Sears
• Security Holdings LLC
• Stubblefield Dentistry
• University of Mississippi/Chancellor Vitter

Allison Buchanan is CEO of New Media Lab LLC, parent company of hottytoddy.com. She can be reached at allison.buchanan@hottytoddy.com.

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