Teeland students enjoy national event

For the Frontiersman

They flew in, red-eyed, like the Brood X 17-year periodical cicadas that have emerged all over the nation's northeast, the 18-student champions and their four coaches, two assistant coaches, and six parent chaperones.

The Teeland Middle School Science Olympiad Team returned from Juniata College in Pennsylvania, where they had been competing in the 20th annual National Science Olympiad.

This is the second year students from Teeland, under the coaching of Lura Hegg and Joe Nolting, earned the state championship and the right to compete at Nationals, and their final ranking -- five steps higher than last year -- reflected their growing experience.

The students competed in 26 events against 53 other teams of 6th- through 9th-grade students. The competition was tough. They had some spectacular successes and some equally spectacular failures, but the kids were held up throughout. They almost won the Spirit of Science award for their good sportsmanship, manners, attitude and behavior. According to NASA's representative to Science Olympiad, no team received as much applause as the Alaska team.

About 4,500 people were involved in the national competition, but fewer periodical cicadas than the students had anticipated, and more heat, humidity, thunderstorms and mud.

The top stories in the local Juniata newspaper during the event were the emergence of the 17-year periodical cicadas and the arrival of the competitors for the National Science Olympiad competition. A front-page story featured the Teeland team preparing for their events and studying the cicadas.

Teeland student Wyatt Evans was quoted saying that the Teeland team had had some pretty tough competition back home during the Alaska State Olympiad, and that participating in the state finals, he said, inspired a little "queasiness." Making it to nationals meant full-blown nervousness and plenty of excitement, he said.

"Last year, at nationals, I took fourth place in the 'Storm the Castle' event (trebuchets)," said Evans. "I like the building events because they're hands-on. You get your hands on something and learn as you're doing." He added that his three years in Science Olympiad had strenthened his math skills and knowledge by "200 percent."

To unwind after the competition, before heading back to Alaska, the team spent a day at Hershey Park, which was followed by a day at Gettysburg and the Indian Echo Caverns.