Congratulations!

The students at the St. Anthony High Blog pass on this happy news:

First off, congrats to everyone on the WYSE team! We took first at regionals, and we totally dominated with a perfect score of 500 :) Quite a few of our members placed:

Myles Baker - 1st in physics, 2nd in math

Andrew Grunloh - 1st in physics

Marty Jansen - 2nd in physics

Kathleen Kay - 2nd in chemistry

Caroline Robb - 1st in biology

Drew Willenborg - 1st in chemistry, 1st in math

Well done, everyone! Keep up the excellent work!

Hearty congratulations!

This morning a group of our high school students went to Eastern Illinois University in Charleston for the sectional Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering competition.

When they competed in the regional competition, they not only took first place in their division (earning all possible points), they also took first place among every division.

When I saw them off this morning I told them to bring back first place, and I've just received word that they did! Our teams' results are as follows:

In math, Craig Brummer took first, Alex Bauer took second and Heather Esker
took third.

In physics, Miles Baker took first and Marty Jansen and Taylor Oltman tied for third.

In chemistry, Greg Schmidt took first, Drew Willenborg took second and Miles Baker took third.

In english, Craig Brummer took first.

Congratulations on a job very well done! You've made us very proud!

When I know how they performed overall, I will update this post.

Well done, well done!

Word has just reached me that our Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering team took first place today in the sectional competition, taking first place in physics, math and science.

Well done! Congratulations!!!

More dealings with the media

Longtime readers of this blog will know that I am no stranger to difficulties with the media - both secular and Catholic - and that efforts heretofore have not been fruitful. Today, though, that may have begun to change.

The following excerpt comes from a Letter to the Editor that I submitted this afternoon to the Effingham Daily News in a meeting with the Editor.

Two area high schools recently competed in regional Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) competitions. One school in Farina competed February 6th at Kaskaskia College and one school in Effingham competed February 8th in Mattoon.

Both schools earned first place in their respective regional competitions; the headline for the article regarding South Central High School in Farina explicitly stated this (as did the opening line) in the article published February 14th, while the article regarding St. Anthony High School in Effingham hid the corresponding fact within the article published February 13th without putting such information in the headline.

South Central placed first in regional competitions last year, as did St. Anthony; this fact about South Central was explicitly stated while it was not stated about St.
Anthony.

Both schools will go on to compete in sectional competitions in the Spring; the article for South Central explicitly stated this while the article for St. Anthony did not.

Both schools submitted pictures of their teams: the picture of South Central’s team was published while the picture of St. Anthony’s team was not.

St. Anthony’s WYSE team received second place in the State competition last year; no mention of this was made and was reported last year one month after the fact.

South Central’s WYSE team coach was named but St. Anthony’s coach was not.

It is true that the article concerning St. Anthony briefly concerned other area schools, but this is no reason to short change the St. Anthony students with a deserved headline and better coverage....

We at St. Anthony’s whole-heartedly congratulate South Central for their
excellent performance and wish them well in future competitions. In no way do we wish to detract from their recognition, which is rightly theirs. While we are grateful for the recognition given us, we wish simply to receive the same recognition for achieving the same.

I brought with me one of our elederly parishioners who remains active and respected in the community to help explain and express our concerns to the Editor, who seems to have sincerely listened to us and offered explanations as to the differences of the two articles, which I will not go into here (though I will say that some fault lies with both sides).

Suffice it to say that the Editor offered to personally rewrite the story and rerun the article early next week, including the picture.

I am very pleased with the outcome of the meeting and hope that St. Anthony of Padua Parish and the Effingham Daily News will be able to communicate with each other and work together better in the months and years to come.

WYSE Team earns First Place

The Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering team from St. Anthony High School in Effingham, coached by Mr. Matthew Poston, performed exceptionally well in Mattoon Friday at the WYSE Academic Challenge.

Scoring all possible points in the 300 Division, the students received First Place. The students also performed well over all. The only other school to match their point total was Mattoon in the 1500 Division.

In Mathematics, Maria Jansen received first place in her division and first place overall; Craig Brummer received second place in his division and second place overall; and Heather Esker received third place overall.

In Chemistry, Jonathan Day received first place in his division and first place overall; Heather Esker received second place in her division and second place overall; and Amy Goeckner and Craig Brummer tied for third place overall.

In Physics, Maria Jansen received first place in her division and first place overall and Jonathan Day received second place in his division and third place overall.

In English, Nicole Rutledge received first place in her division and second place overall and Nicole Haarmann received second place in her division.

In Biology, Anthony Schottman received first place in his division and third place overall and Nicole Haarmann received second place in her division.

The three divisions are based on the number of students enrolled in schools, either 300, 700 or 1,500.

More than 300 students from area schools competed in the Academic Challenge.

Last year the students received second place. I am very proud of students for their hard work and accomplishments. Congratulations to each of them, and to Mr. Poston, for their fine work!

The trophy

The WYSE team's new trophy:

And before you ask: the sign with the spider web on it was for the dinner theatre mystery program put on this evening by the high school students. More on that in a moment.

WYSE team places 2nd at State

From the News Release:

The St. Anthony High School WYSE (Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineeing) Team competed in the State WYSE Academic Challenge at the University of Illinois on Thursday, April 19th, finishing 2nd as a team in the 300 Division, missing out on 1st by only 1.1 points. They scored 414.9 points out of a possible score of 500, scoring the maximum number of points in both math and physics in the 300 Division.

Other delightful news here is that our students earned 1st, 2nd, 3rd places and two ties for 5th place in math. They also earned 2nd, 4th and 6th places in physics.

Well done, team! I'm very pleased and impressed Congratulations, team!!!

I only wish I could take some credit for helping with this. Congratulations, Mr. Poston!!!