Kennedy science students make states for 5th straight year

On one side of the science lab on Kennedy High School's third floor, Barri Bruno and Wil Yegelwel, both 17 and seniors, were poking and prodding their Rub Goldberg machine, a deliberately over-engineered device that performs a simple function.

Last Wednesday, the two were furiously putting final touches on the machine, whose sole purpose was to raise a tiny plastic flag attached to a ruler. As they played with the complex maze of wires and batteries in the wooden box that they had screwed together, they were growing a tad frustrated.

The machine wasn't working as they had expected. "Things are malfunctioning. It's quite a problem," said Yegelwel.

Indeed, it was. The pair needed the project to work for the state Science Olympiad, which loomed only three days away.

The two were among 15 Bellmore-Kennedy science students who competed in 25 events at the annual state Olympiad last weekend at the U.S. Military Academy at West Point. The students had placed fifth in Nassau out of more than 60 science squads to earn a place at the state competition (the top seven teams make it). It is the fifth straight year that a Kennedy squad has gone to states.

Think of Science Olympiad like a track meet. Students compete in any number of events. They can earn individual medals, and the team can win an overall trophy. The only difference is that, rather than the 100-meter dash and the high jump, students compete in areas like astronomy, protein modeling, experimental design, disease detection, chemistry lab, fossil identification, cell biology and helicopter construction. They stretch their minds rather than their bodies.

Three Kennedy science teachers act as their advisers. They receive one small stipend split three ways for their work. They are: Russell Lella, physics teacher; Helmut Schleith, chemistry teacher; and Sarah Femminella, biology teacher. The Herald stopped by before the competition to photograph and interview the students, all of whom are members of Kennedy's Science Club.

Lella said the Science Olympiad "really gives kids an outlet for their creativity...It lets kids explore areas of content that aren't necessarily in the curriculum." He noted that astronomy is not part of most high schools' curricula, but rather is offered at times as a 12th-grade elective.

The state meet is ultra-competitive, Lella said. "It's literally like the Olympics. You can get students competing from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m."

Preparation for the competition begins each year in September. Students meet with their advisers once a week, but as the county Olympiad approaches, students are often working on projects or preparing for written tests every day.

"It's a lot of hours," said Josh Cohen, a 16-year-old junior who was perfecting his protein model, a mass of swirling, jumbled tubing with little pink pigs (don’t ask) and multi-colored pushpins sticking out of it.

Jeremy Roberts, 18, was busy modifying his miniature wind turbine, built with a small plastic rotor and a circular motor from an old CD player, attached to a metal stand and a voltmeter. Roberts was testing his turbine using a giant fan. At the competition, the turbine able to produce the greatest amount of electricity wins.

"I like physics," Roberts said. "I wanted to learn how different forces and energy types work."

Yegelwel said that, despite the long hours of preparation, Science Olympiad is "just fun."

Kennedy's Science Olympiad team

Matt Baron

Barri Bruno

Stefanie Busgang

Josh Cohen

Matthew Gallitto

Alexa Giovino

Jacob Hollander

Marissa Liebman

Daniel Multer

Alexa Ravit

Rachel Saltzman

Darwin Shen

Stacey Wolfson

Daniel Wong

Wil Yegelwel

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