This year's Science Olympiad State competition took place at Ohio State University. Science Olympiad is a science-specific academic competition in which 6th to 12th grade high school students participate in various events which test the student's knowledge of science by exams, experiments, and building projects related to the four main fields of science: Physics, Biology, Chemistry, and Earth Science. Thirty high schools in all competed in various events ranging from Reach for the Stars, an astronomy event, to Wright Stuff, an event in which students are tested in their knowledge concerning aeronautics and their prowess in building a model airplane. The Official Science Olympiad Website describes the competition more in-depth.

Clearview -- 1.26.00
The team from Mentor High School which went to the invitational scrimmage taking place at Clearview High School on January 22 ended up doing rather well considering most of our upperclassmen/women were taking their SAT tests back at the school. Even though this was only an invitational scrimmage, competition was fierce and the events were all very challenging. We placed fifth overall, which was very surprising; most of the events in which we participated had a minimal amount of study time attached, some of us who were volunteered by Mr. Ramsey actually placed in an event we had no idea we were competeing in until the bus ride there. The rookies did a very good job in filling the shoes of our test-taking comrades; we are very thankful for the sacrifice and willingness to be slightly humiliated for the team. As for some of the older guys on the team, they didn't care if they were humiliated (even if they humiliated themselves); we all went to have a good time learning and just to have fun. Our fun was to include throwing a frisbee around but a certain Solon student named Mango took it away from us, so in retaliation Brian and Zach fell in love with her. Oh well, we were greatly encouraged by our performances as well as made aware of some more studying that needs to be done. We are waiting with much anticipation for the next scrimmage taking place on February 12 at Solon High School.

Solon -- 2.12.00
Our team went to Solon High School on February 22 to compete in the second invitational Science Olympiad scrimmage for 2000 and ended up taking eighth place. Our advisers Mr. Ramsey and Ms. Schormuller were slightly disappointed in our standings and had a few choice words to tell us concerning our projects. "Get better results or DIE!!!" was the basic gist of what they said. Contrarily, we thought we did fairly well considering we only had 10 people out of a possible 15 actually go to the competition. Tom and Scott placed first in Chem. Lab and the rest of us got third to sixth place. The best part of the day was the should-be event of Ultimate Frisbee. Everyone had a blast throwing the frisbee that we brought around. Mentor's Ultimate Frisbee team rules! One thing that really bugged us there was that the Solon team placed first in practically every event and thus to be "modest and humble" the Solon coach, who presented the awards for the day, just mumbled every time Solon placed. His "modesty" was so blatant that it really seemed to be bragging. It was really disgusting. Oh well, we're ready for Regionals on February 26 at CWRU.

Case -- 2.26.00
The Regionals held at Case Western Reserve University on February 26 was one of the coolest times we all on the Mentor Science Olympiad team have had doing school-type work. We took a lot of the awards, though not all, and in the end we recieved fourth place overall. WE"RE GOING TO STATES!!! The state competition will be held on April 14-15 at Ohio State University. The weather was a wonderful 70 degrees with not a cloud in the sky; although it was a bit breezy, our frisbee flew fine. We are still the champs!

OHIO STATE -- 4.15.00
The State Science Olympiad Competition taking place on the campus of Ohio State University was a great experience. The Mentor team took SEVENTH place out of forty schools participating in States and 240 schools in Regional competition.

Team Members

The following people are members of the Mentor Science Olympiad Team for the year 2000:

ADVISORS
Mr. Ramsey (a.k.a. Digger) - "There aren't enough ohm-farads in a day!"
Ms. Schormuller (a.k.a. Scary Spice / Bubbles)
SENIORS
Zach Stafford (a.k.a. Stercorarius)- "Recidite, plebes! Gero rem imperialem!"
Brian Pinizotto (a.k.a. Nunzio)-"Wait a minute...There's no salad bar here!"
Katie Frato (a.k.a. Nerdling)-"Climb the mountains and get their good tidings."
Kelli Webb-"No Comment"
Scott Schmucker (a.k.a. Schenk of Darkness)-"Eat that chicken!"
Dena Freeman (a.k.a. Dena)-"DS"
Dawn Weise
JUNIORS
Tom Lasko
Chad Zivich - "Ultimate Frisbee Champs"
SOPHOMORES
Scott Pochatila (a.k.a. Pokey) - "Remember, you fly with your head, not your hands."
Bob Mocadlo (a.k.a. Bobalicious) - "Enlighten Up!"
Chris Schenk (a.k.a. Jonathan) - "Isn't it kind of disturbing that doctors call what they do 'practice'?"
FRESHMEN
Chelsie Armbruster (a.k.a. Lily) - "Wisdom is knowing what to do next; Virtue is doing it"
Anthony Ray (a.k.a. Sloth) - "You never know what you can do 'til you try!"