Thursday, Feb.10, 13 CHS students attended the WYSE competition at Lincoln University, Jefferson City. WYSE stands for Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering.
The CHS team placed second in the competition and will be able to continue on to sectionals in St. Louis next month.
According to Amy Kuebler, CHS science teacher and the group's sponsor, the students involved in WYSE "test in the areas of Biology, Chemistry, Physics, Math, English, Computer Science and Engineering Graphics."
To get involved, students interested in joining WYSE attend a meeting in the fall. Some team members are also recruited by students who participated the previous year or by recommendation of a teacher in an area of study the team needs to fill.
The WYSE team members are Sidney Williams, Tabatha Hoback, Sarah Hurt, Jaime Reynolds, Addison Jobe, Brooke Holliday, Jeremy Jungmeyer, Derek Watson, Blake Bestgen, Noel Sandoval, Nathan Thibon, Donald Figgins and Walter Juarez.
At the competition, "We [CHS] competed against Linn, while Liberty and Helias competed against each other," Kuebler explained.
"As a team, we improved greatly over last year," said Kuebler. The CHS team's final score was very close to that of Linn's, who has had years of previous practice.
In early March, WYSE sectionals will take place in St. Louis. Any student who finishes sectionals as one of the top two will be qualified to move on to the state competition in April at Missouri S&T in Rolla.
Individual students placed as follows: Biology, Blake Bestgen-third; Chemistry, Sidney Williams-second, Don Figgins-third; Computer Science, Blake Bestgen-first, D.J. Watson-second; English, Nathan Thibon-second; Math, Addison Jobe-second; Physics, Don Figgins-first, Nathan Thibon-second.