High School Students Compete in WYSE Sectional

Knox College awarded certificates more than 60 scholarships to high school students with the top scores in a battery of tests that covered engineering and the sciences as well as English and mathematics, in the 2015 Sectional competition for the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Academic Challenge (WYSE), held recently on the Knox campus in Galesburg.

More than 200 students from area high schools took hour-long written exams in the sciences, mathematics, computer science, engineering, and English. Awards are presented to top performing teams and individuals, who will advance to State-level competition, April 13-16 in Champaign, IL, hosted by the University of Illinois.

Competing at Knox were students from Abingdon-Avon, Alleman Catholic, Brown County, Bushnell-Prairie City, Galesburg, Hamilton, Hamilton, Illini West, Knoxville, Lewistown, Macomb, Meredosia-Chambersburg, Monmouth-Roseville, Rockridge, ROWVA, Spoon River Valley, United Township, West Central, and West Prairie high schools.

Advancing from the Knox Sectional to the state finals are teams from ROWVA, Monmouth-Roseville, Galesburg, United Township High School, Hamilton and Macomb high schools.

All of the students and teams advancing to the finals are listed on the WYSE website at:

https://wyse.engineering.illinois.edu/files/2014/10/Knox-College-2015-Sectional-Results.pdf

Knox presented certificates of eligibility for scholarships to 23 top student finalists and 41 additional students who qualified to advance to the state finals.

The top 23 scorers at the Knox Sectional in each subject area are:

Biology
1 Michael Williams, Galesburg High School
2 Brandon Ayer, Illini West High School
3 Randi Bailey, United Township High School
3 Gabi Torrance, Macomb High School

Chemistry
1 Thomas Osborne, United Township High School
1 Eli Robinson, ROWVA High School
2 Daniel Devilder, United Township High School
2 Josh Heimann, Galesburg High School

Computer Science
1 Lucas Kasser, Knoxville High School
2 Reagan Wells, Galesburg High School
3 Wyatt Newberry, Illini West High School

Engineering Graphics
1 Regan Bowman, West Central High School
2 Alex Hubbard, United Township High School
3 Riley Beekhuizen, Hamilton High School

English
1 Walker Kelly, Galesburg High School
2 Michael Do, Alleman High School
3 Lizzy Rabchuk, Macomb High School

Mathematics
1 Sam Armon, Galesburg High School
2 Wesley Graham, Alleman High School
2 Jordan Shroyer, Galesburg High School

Physics
1 Josh Heimann, Galesburg High School
2 Colton Smith, Farmington High School
3 Sam Armon, Galesburg High School

Above, the four trophy-winning teams from the 2015 Knox College Sectional WYSE Academic Challenge: ROWVA, Monmouth-Roseville, Galesburg and United Township high schools; students from Brown County High School play cards while waiting for testing to begin; Farmington HIgh School WYSE coach Rich Paul talking to one of the students on his team; top of page, a Knox College student administers the test in one of several exam rooms.