Lowellville Rockets soar at 44th YSU Physics Olympics

YOUNGSTOWN -- Lowellville High School took care of business at Youngstown State University's 44th annual Physics Olympics on Saturday. The Rockets won first place in seven events and the overall competition by four points.

Events included building a house of cards from index cards; making hot water, in which students use friction from pedaling a bike to heat a metal container; and the ever-popular egg drop, which challenges participants to fashion a paper container that will prevent an egg from breaking.

Sarah Eisnaugle Bika, who majored in biological sciences while at YSU, stepped in to coordinate this year's event.

Eisnaugle Bika explained the event is a great way to give people more hands-on activities and said that while schools are moving away from the sciences and replacing them with alternatives, it's important that physics stays.

"It's really an applicable science. A lot of students don't realize how applicable it is to everyday life," Eisnaugle Bika said. "Understanding how things function, how things work. We have more students moving toward the trades, but a lot of the trades are actually built on physics-based properties.

"Science is really helpful," Eisnaugle Bika said. "It also helps ingrain a core education into them that a lot of school districts now are offering alternative sciences (to) and things like that."

Eisnaugle Bika said many students avoid physics because they want to avoid what they believe is one of the harder sciences but she says its difficulty often depends on how it is taught.

Eisnaugle Bika looked to past event coordinators such as physics professor Cindy Smotzer for guidance. Eisnaugle Bika said Smotzer warned her of the challenges, but told her to be positive and patient, reassuring her that it would all come back.

"The community has really shown me how much they care," Eisnaugle Bika said. "All of our food and everything today has been sponsored or donated."

Students brought their own choices and designs to the events. For some, however, it was a matter of what they could do with limited time.

Ursuline High School student John Rock participated in the ping-pong launch, where students used homemade catapults to launch a ball into a sand pit. He said they were forced to change their original design at the last minute.

"Last night, we were doing some final touches testing it. We're like, 'all right, tomorrow's gonna be great. We're gonna have it ready'," Rock said. "And then we realized, well, we can't get to 6 meters, which is the final length.' So we're like, "all right, let's twist it one more time.' And that last twist was the twist that broke the camel's back and snapped the bungee (cord)."

Rock said classmate Vincent Prezioso's dad provided them with one of his elastic bands, which they ended up using as a replacement.

YSU physics professor Donald Priour served as one of the judges, overseeing the physics phloaters competition. He said he was pleased with the student engagement and their attitudes.

"Students have really taken this seriously and you know, we see people coming to visit from all different ages," Priour said. "But I think we've seen the level of commitment and investment of time and effort and just the excitement that we hope to see, so that dynamic is returned to a considerable degree."

Priour said Eisnaugle Bika deserved "considerable praise" for the event's success.

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