Nina Ruiz
In Motion Staff Writer
AP Physics students from Spruce Creek, Seabreeze, and Mainland High schools gathered in a battle of wits to compete in the Physics Olympics at Daytona State College’s Lemerand Fitness Center last month.
The event was hosted by DSC’s Physics and Meteorology Professor, Dr. Michael Olson, who gathered his students to judge the high schoolers’ models and experiments, including paper plane challenges, strong arm machines, egg drops, bridge building, laser zaps and a Rube Goldberg contraption, more commonly known as a “chaos machine.”
Dr. Olson emphasizes the importance of physics in everyday life to the students. “It’s one thing to learn about physics in the classroom, but it’s one thing to put it into action,” he said.
The 200 participating high school teens had a few months to plan, as well as the choice to participate in as many activities as they wanted. Mainland students in charge of the chaos machine, however, limited their preparation time to just four days. They collected items within their classroom from scratch to ultimately see how they would all fit together to serve a function.
One of the Mainland Advanced Placement students said these types of hands-on activities are a custom in the classroom. “Our teacher Mr. Hilburn brings these kinds of supplies all the time and it really helps us get a grasp on the lessons,” senior Miraj Patel said.
Not only did Drew Hilburn, AP physics teacher at Mainland, aim for his class to practice the learned material from the event, but he also hoped the students would take away something greater.
“AP students may feel isolated and alone when they walk in to take their final exam. So, when things like this brings the class together, I hope that feel like they can take that final as a team, too,” said Hilburn.
The DSC Physics II students helping to judge the high schoolers’ experiments volunteered simply because of their love for the subject. Sydney Dumas, a student in Dr. Olson’s class, was most excited for the Airplane Challenge.
“I love anything to do with airplanes and how they work. The designs that the kids come up with are always really cool,” Dumas said. She recently got accepted to Embry-Riddle Aeronautical University to further her studies and plans to start in July.
An awards ceremony was held at the end of the Physics Olympics where the AP students received certificates and were applauded for their challenging work. Jackson Strickland and Tommy Walburg from Mainland were tied for first place in the Airplane Challenge, both of their planes reached 55 feet in altitude. Hunter Klein from Spruce Creek reached first place in the Strong Arm Challenge and also tied for first with Scott Buck in the Laser Challenge.
The Mainland High School students worked collectively on their Rube Goldberg Machine and earned their score based on the volume of applause they received, which led them to first place.