Schools Compete in WYSE Academic Challenge Sectional at McKendree
Governor French, Gibault, Highland and Edwardsville High Schools Take Top Team Honors
Lebanon, Ill. — More than 260 talented students from 29 southwestern Illinois high
schools competed at McKendree University on Mar. 12 in the Illinois Sectional tournament
of the 2012 Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge.
The top schools in each division, based on enrollment size, were Governor French Academy
(under 300); Gibault Catholic (300 to 700); Highland (700 to 1,500); and Edwardsville
(1,500 or more).
Participants came from Belleville West, Bond County (Greenville), Breese Central,
Carlyle, Centralia, Christ Our Rock Lutheran (Centralia), Collinsville, Dupo, Edwardsville,
Freeburg, Gibault (Waterloo), Governor French Academy (Belleville), Highland, Lebanon,
Marissa, Mascoutah, Mater Dei (Breese), Mulberry Grove, Nashville, O’Fallon, Odin,
Okawville, Red Bud, Salem, Sandoval, Sparta, Vandalia, Waterloo and Wesclin (Trenton).
As a result of the competition, McKendree University awarded scholarships to Jeremiah
James of Marissa High School; Daniel Fullerton of Centralia High School; and Aimee
Dancy of Governor French Academy. McKendree-bound students who attend one of the university’s
scholarship events and also finish in the top three in their school’s division at
the WYSE Academic Challenge are eligible.
It is the ninth year that the university has hosted the competition. Dr. Jim Feher,
professor of computer science and computer information systems at McKendree, is chairman
of the WYSE advisory board. "I love to host the Academic Challenge. It is fantastic
to have so many young kids get recognized for their academic achievement in the STEM
areas of science, technology, engineering and mathematics," he said.
WYSE’s purpose is to advance excellence in science and mathematics and to promote
careers in engineering and the sciences. The Academic Challenge is a competitive series
of multiple-choice tests in seven subjects, designed to motivate talented high school
students to greater achievement.
Competing individually and as varsity and junior varsity teams in divisions based
on their school’s enrollment size, students take tests in biology, chemistry, computer
science, engineering graphics, English, math and physics. Test material is drawn from
senior high school and freshman level college curricula and written by college and
university faculty. Exams of increasing levels of difficulty are given at the regional,
sectional and state finals.
Team photos:
Belleville West High School
Front row: Riley Mayr and Austin Pavlak.
Middle row: Natalie Walsh, Morgan Munro, Mollie Carty, Rachel Petrie.
Back row: Coach Mike Rogier, Hannah Benson, Justin Vartanian, Gary Huang, Chris Mertens,
Jack Muskopf, Luke Weilbacher, Josh Dormeier, Eli Bernstein, Rachel Harvey.
Bond County Community Unit #2 High School
Front row: Jasmine Patel, Anna Brannon, Kelsey Laurent, Katie Pollman.
Back row: Coach Linda Hinch, Dellon Sanders, Donald Cruse, Elle Shaw, Jordan Disch,
Alex Childerson, Tyler Ziemba, Amy Disch, Seth Lohman, Hayden File, Colton Rainey.
Breese Central Community High School
Front Row: Jonathan Witte and Max Pittman.
Not pictured: Coach Emily Howell.
Carlyle High School
Front row: Ben Tucker, Courtney Gerstenecker, Olivia Walker, Katie Twitchell, Siera Crouse.
Back row: Ryan Schaffer, Sawyer Magnus, Andrew Adams, Spencer Smith, Clinton Schmienk, Justen Hediger, Tyson Boehne, Kenny Odell, Tyler Wheelan.
Not pictured: Coach Joe Wilkerson.
Centralia High School
Front row: Rebecca Reynolds, Brittan Rosch, Lindsey Buckmore, Megan Chillson.
Back row: Abby Henegar, Annamarie Beckmeyer, Dustin Dekalb, Connor Zelasko, Trenton
Dunahee, Breden Hartmann, Daniel Fullerton, C.J. Schnieder, Brendan Harris, Dip Patel,
Coach Jason Kuester.
Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School
Front row: Ellie Rueter, Caitlin Fuehne, Dorothee Belli, Celia Belli.
Back row: Quinn DeBernardi, Quincy Knolhoff, Montana Schmitz-Donoho, Amanda Geiger, Lukas Mueller, Carson Neudecker, Ben Maschoff, Brandon Huggins.
Not pictured: Coach Will Pennington.
Collinsville High School
Front row: Dalton Akley, Christopher He, Sam Kluthe, Mike Bednara.
Middle row: Andy Doyon, Kailey Vojas, Katherine Ross, Aman Patel.
Back row: Michael McMahon, Coach Tom Withee, Jason Kunz, Robert Duff, Isaac Reichert,
Michael Menges, Micah Lauth, Coach Pat Szpila.
Dupo High School
Front Row: Michelle Gleich and Coach Kelly Walsh.
Edwardsville High School
Front row: Mallory Schoreder, Allie Kern, Cori Hinterser.
Middle row: Tim Chen, Alex Aydt, Rick Veitch, Stephanie Shady.
Back row: Coach Julia Dall, Clare Swapp, Adam Bailey, Luke Puchner-Hardman, Brady
O’Brian, Brett Lunn, Matt Clarkston, Garrett Sweatt, Coach Becky Beal.
Freeburg High School
Front row: Stephanie Wormald, Addie Buerck.
Back row: Aaron Province, Brendan O’Saben.
Not pictured: Coach Kim Lintker.
Gibault Catholic High School
Front row: Erin Goldschmidt, Kristin Kreher, Angela Vieth, Olivia Hollmann.
Back row: Coach Bill Guthrie, Dan Kuester, Martin Witges, Alex Dickinsin, Matthew
Branz, Brendan Robbins, Reed Spurgeon, John Orlet, Alexia Schrieber, James Deterding.
Governor French Academy
Front row: Erykah Harris, Skylar Kline, Madi Maharaj, Martina Hukel.
Back row: Coach Christine Stewart, Jonah Atchison, Cayden Hundley, Conner Ruhl, Josie
Dawson, Benjamin White, Poju Wei, Forrest Hunter, Cody Hughes, Geno Umlor, Aimee Dancy.
Highland High School
Front row: Caroline Menz, Amy Klobuchar, Lauren Miller, Hayley Vonder Haar.
Back row: Olivia Geiger, Joshua Case, Kevin Wang, Logan Garthe, Aaron Uhe, Samuel Holdeman, Austin Holtzclaw, Katie Brinker, Emilee Gibbons, Morgan Fuehne.
Not pictured: Coach Kristie Simmons.
Lebanon High School
Front Row: Zach Schoenfeld, Andrew Pollard, Ryan Helfrich.
Not pictured: Coach Marsha Schmittling.
Marissa High School
Front row: Katie Schmierbach, Julie Foertsch, Emilie Bollmeier, Kayla Juenger.
Middle row: Troy Neal, Wyatt Albert, Drew Feig.
Back row: Dustin Johnston, Jacqueline Waller, Miranda Hagan, Joey Smith, Austin Place, Jeremiah James, Gene Cathcart.
Not pictured: Coach Jill Prest.
Mascoutah High School
Front row: Kayla Daniels, Brianna Witherell, Alexis Pokorney, Dana Sigman.
Back row: Tiffany Miller, Kelly Perkins, Kelsey Abington, Rebecca Baron, Morgan Gulley, Kayla Wiedau, Michael Parks, Thomas Cavin, Brett Jennings.
Not pictured: Coach-Sponsor Chris Levrault.
Mater Dei Catholic High School
Front row: Mackenzie McCray, Zoe Timmermann, Anna Lampe, Ellen Toennies.
Back row: Laura Schlueter, Kevin Garber, Kane Weinberg, Joe Kasson, Zach Peek, Hannah
Albers, Drew Logullo, Tad Logullo, Lucas Foppe, Jon Ang, Coach Scott Timmermann.
Mulberry Grove High School
Front Row: Newt Albert.
Not pictured: Coach Karen Clark.
Nashville High School
Front row: Karli Kurwicki, Alexia Castic, Tricia Hermann, Meghan Orr.
Back row: Devin Holle, Alex Orr, Garett Guest, Hannah Heseman, Shaye Harre, Shawn Rennegarbe, Marissa Perjak, Brandon Heckert, Megan Hall, Kyle Mueller.
Not pictured: Coaches Jean Orr and Brian Pasero.
Odin High School
Front Row: Bridget Horton.
Not pictured: Coach Nancy Schaefer.
O’Fallon Township High School
Front row: Cassidy McCandless, Emily Cassidy, Sarah Biehn, Sarah Suhaimi.
Back row: Alex Ashley, Drew Wise, Kevin Dice, Alexander McArthur, Valerie Levine, Evan Anderson, Sloane Wolter, Miranda Dawson, Samantha Heinrich.
Not pictured: Coach Connie Shook.
Okawville High School
Front row: Alyssa Brammeier, Amy Klasing, Alexis Lintker, Cassie Claro.
Back row: Travis Thoeming, Katie Backs, Tessa Winkel, Alex Rawls, Janel Lake, Taylor Walton, Bennett Brown, Jared Blumhorst, Cameron Winkel, Bryton Cathcart.
Not pictured: Coach Rhonda Hormann.
Red Bud High School
Front row: Sierra Baxter and Morgan Seibert.
Middle row: Joshua DeRousse, Garrett Salger, Amy Koester, Adrianne Webb.
Back row: Andrew Quinn, Jordan Hannah, Tyler Roider, Zach Dobbs, Kyle Doiron, Abbey Brundage, Ryan Shubert, Joshua Whelan.
Not pictured: Coach Brian Magee.
Salem Community High School
Front row: Bailey Hester, Jessica Hopkins, Miranda Haeuber, Kaitlin Morkassel.
Back row: Nathaniel Reid, Brennan Moore, Christopher Hester.
Not pictured: Coach Lisa Stephenson.
Sandoval High School
Front row: Nico Rodriguez and Wyatt Shuler.
Back row: Randy Pursley.
Not pictured: Coach Amy Telford.
Sparta High School
Front Row: Ryan Rhodes, Coach Michelle Rhee.
Vandalia Community High School
Front Row: Michael Price and Patrick Bauer.
Not pictured: Coach Walt Kinney.
Waterloo High School
Front row: Lucas Krupp and David Nabor.
Back row: Coach Lisa Tiedemann.
Wesclin High School
Front Row: Kirk Litteken and Nick Takacs.
Not pictured: Coach Jason Schleifer.
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