Students Have It Down to a Science : Gompers’ Teams Chalk Up First, Second in U.S. Competition

The individual contests included such things as identifying organisms, conducting laser beams through optical elements, reading topographic maps, conducting exercises in genetics and designing musical instruments.

And after it was all over Saturday, the 15-member team of seventh-, eighth- and ninth-graders from Gompers Secondary School in Southeast San Diego had captured first place in the annual National Science Olympiad in Columbus, Ohio, beating 32 other teams.

Gompers’ 10th-, 11th- and 12th-graders took second place in the high school finals against 39 other teams. In similar competition last year, the senior team ranked fifth and the junior team sixth.

The two teams competed in 23 events to win their rankings, an honor that Gompers’ coaches say resulted from determination and teamwork. Individual winners also were recognized in each event.

“This was a team working together, a family,” said Martin Teachworth, coach of the junior team and a physics teacher. “It isn’t that there were 15 superstars. They didn’t win just for themselves, and they didn’t win for me: They won for all the kids.”

More than 40 students tried out for the 15 spots. The younger team also included five alternates. Teachworth said the process of elimination was not an easy one.

“It was hard,” he said. “I mean, we had about 40 kids who were all just super. But in the end, you can only go with the strongest.”

Jay Rubin, senior team coach and a chemistry teacher, said all 18 of the students who tried out for the senior team traveled to Ohio as team members or alternates.

“The students worked very hard,” Rubin said. “In some cases, the kids are so intelligent or talented that they already had a good shot at (winning the title). But it was not enough just to be smart. They had to work at it.”

“One alternate I was really proud of made his own flute out of plastic piping, and the judge was visibly impressed,” Rubin said of an experimental event that alternates could participate in and which is planned for next year’s competition.

“You had to know the physics of music and just how long or how strong to make it,” he said. “Talent of all the kids cannot just be measured in terms of skill but of their understanding and patience.”

Fran Hill, coordinator of the school’s magnet program and a trip chaperon, said, “For the kids, the thrill of being there and competing against hundreds of kids was just overwhelming. “You could just feel their excitement and their camaraderie.”

Last month, the two teams took first place in Fullerton at the ROTC-sponsored State Olympiad to compete in the national finals. The junior high team competed against 19 other schools and the senior team competed against 24.