Newspapers / University of North Carolina … / March 4, 2015, edition 1 / Page 1
Part of University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper / About this page
This page has errors
The date, title, or page description is wrong
This page has harmful content
This page contains sensitive or offensive material
VOL. 62, ISSUE 7 I WEDNESDAY, MARCH 4, 2015 I THEBLUEBANNER.NET UNGA hosts 16th Science Olympiad ier local students DANIEL HALL dhall@unca.edu - News Staff Water Pressurized soda bottles launched eggs over the Quad this Saturday as UNC Asheville hosted its 16* re gional Science Olympiad for middle and high school students of Western North Carolina. The eggs then parachuted back to the ground, hope fully, as the objective was to keep them intact during their flight and landing. It was one event out of 46 in which participants comptet- ed, testing not only their skills in science and math, but in teamwork, creativ ity and communication. One event had partici pants use air pressure to shoot a projectile at a target. Another presented partici pants with an investigative scenario, asking that they solve a crime by running tests using the information provided to them. In yet another, teams were sim ply given some duct tape, a bit of paper and a paper clip, and asked to build a crane which could support a golf ball for five seconds. The competition’s chief organizers were Judy Beck, physics profes sor at UNC A, and Cathy Whitlock, mathemat ics professor at UNC A. Beck said it is a great op portunity for the students, regardless of whether they win. They get to apply their science and math skills in a creative manner, across a broad range of topics. And, beyond that, it is just fun. “It’s so much fun,” Beck said. “It’s great fun. The coaches get excited, the students get really excit ed. The award cereinony usually has louder cheer ing than I’ve ever heard at a basketball game,” While the main purpose of a university is to serve its students. Beck said it is also important to be in volved in the community. particularly in educational pursuits, and the Science Olympiad serves a valu able role in that outreach. Whitlock said the Sci ence Olympiad provides a competitive arena that tests and rewards academ ic rather than physical skills, generating a level of excitement for achieve ments in math and science that is usually reserved for sporting events. And with the strict curriculum in public schools, the com petition gives students the opportunity to take part in fun, hands-on activi ties they might not other wise have had access to. “From my perspective,” Whitlock said, “this is a festival of applied math ematics and science.” There were Rube Gold berg devices, rubber-pow ered monoplanes, bottle rockets flying high over the Quad, bridges of wood and glue, and miniature ve hicles of wood and rubber (for yet more eggs). The action took place all over campus, from Carmichael Hall to the Quad, to the Student Recreation Center. “It’s always a blast to come here and do this.” said Sam Rhinehart, sophomore at Polk County High School. “You get to meet great peo ple, you get to have fun doing the events. And the events are always based around just having fun and knowing what to do.” Polk County High School just barely missed out on competing in the state tournament in 2014, coming in third place in the regional competition when only the top two schools in the high school division were invited to proceed. This year, however, the top four schools from both divisions will be going on to the state tournament in Raleigh, Sam said he hopes Polk County High School will make the cut. Twenty-eight schools Students celebrate theur victory during the Science Olympiad meet. oto by uaniei Hall- Staff Writer Photo by Daniel Hall - Staff News Writer Left, the grand prize for Science participated, 15 in the high school division and 13 in the middle school division. The events were judged by their respective event leaders - who were recruit ed from the community and UNCA faculty, along with a few students - and medals were awarded ac cordingly. There were five trophies for the overall winners in each division, along with a spirit trophy for the team that demon strated the best team- Olympiad students during Saturday work, spirit and attitude. These were distributed at the closing ceremony in the Justice Center Gymnasium. The court was crammed with kids, arranged in color-coded sections for different schools, with spectators lining the bal conies and bleachers. The gymnasium erupted into applause each time medals were awarded, and with 46 total events and multiple, medals for each, it was a lot of clapping. At the end, -Hr Photo by Karen Landert- Contributor 's meet. Right, students showcase the overall winners were announced - the teams that would proceed to the state tournament in Raleigh. Asheville High School’s varsity team won first place in the high school division. Evergreen’s var sity team won first place in the middle school division. Those two schools, along with three others from each division, including Polk County High School, will proceed to the state tournament, hosted at their skills. North Carolina State Uni versity, April 24 and 25, Asheville High School won the regional qualifiei at UNCA in 2014 as well, going on to compete at the state tournament, where they won medals in a num ber of events. Amanda Schoonover, coach for the Asheville High School teams, attributed their suc cess to the quality of the school’s science program SEE OLYMPIAD ON PAGE 6 Conference sparks education questions TIMBI SHEPHERD jshephe3@unca.edu - A&FAsst. Editor Highsmith’s Moun tain Rooms buzzed with anticipation before Matt Murrie welcomed K-12 educators from across the country to the Reinventing Education conference held at UNC Asheville this weekend. Murrie, who organized the event, is the executive director of What If... ? 360, an organization that facilitates dialogue among advocates and practi tioners of experimental learning around the world. He onened Fridav’s Pboto by I imbi snepnera - a«.i- stan i Heiss urges educators to rethink their approach to failure, program by explaining are accustomed to in a that a What If...? event conference. In fact, Mur- may not be what people rie said he conceived of Reinventing Education as an unconference — a bot- tom-up, participant-driven inversion of the typical conference model. “We were inspired by TED Talks, but we wanted to create an experience where audiences are par ticipatory so that the focus isn’t necessarily the people on stage, but anyone who participates,” Murrie said. The event was orga nized into rounds of three speakers, each of whom had eight minutes to pose and respond to a what-if question about education SEE REINVENTING ON PAGE 6 Asheville graffiti sparks debate; art or vandalism OLIVIA PATTERSON opatters@unca.edu - Contributor Despite being nationally renowned by publications such as Forbes, Frommer’s and USA Today for its highly artistic atmosphere, Asheville residents con tinue to debate whether their city’s abundant graf fiti is art or vandalism. “Art is a social prac tice, which means that it is a form of commu- nication with others. An object or performance must be seen and ex perienced by someone else in order for that communication to hap pen, so art needs an au dience to be art,” said Leisa Rundquist, as sociate professor of art history and department chair of art and art his tory at UNC Asheville. SEE GRAFFITI ON PAGE 6
University of North Carolina at Asheville Student Newspaper
Standardized title groups preceding, succeeding, and alternate titles together.
March 4, 2015, edition 1
1
Click "Submit" to request a review of this page. NCDHC staff will check .
0 / 75