High School Students Compete in WYSE Math-Science Challenge
3/9/2011
Lebanon, Ill. — More than 300 talented students from 29 southwestern Illinois high
schools competed at McKendree University on Mar. 8 in the Illinois Sectional tournament
of the 2011 Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge.
The top schools in each division, based on their enrollment size, were O’Fallon, Highland,
Bond County and Governor French Academy.
Participating schools were Belleville West, Bond County (Greenville), Breese Central,
Centralia, Chester, 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,
Red Bud, Salem, Sandoval, South Central (Farina), Sparta, Waterloo, Wesclin (Trenton)
and Woodlawn.
McKendree University has hosted the annual competition for eight years. Dr. Jim Feher,
associate professor of computer science and computer information systems, is chairman
of the WYSE advisory board. WYSE works to advance excellence in science and mathematics
and to promote careers in engineering and the sciences.
The Academic Challenge is a series of competitive multiple-choice tests in seven subjects,
designed to motivate talented high school students to higher achievement in science
and math. Students are tested as teams and individually 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.
As a result of the competition, McKendree University awarded Caleb Vines of Freeburg
High School a $2,000 scholarship and Joel Klimas of Marissa High School a $1,000 scholarship.
McKendree-bound students who attend one of the university's scholarship events and
finish in the top three in their school's division at the WYSE Academic Challenge
are eligible for the scholarships.
Top scoring teams and individuals will advance to the state finals held April 11 to
14 in Champaign.
2011 WYSE Illinois Sectional Team Photos
Belleville West High School
Front row: Austin Pavlak, Andrea Fietsam, Nichole Geiger, Jarrett Smith, E.J. Pisarski.
Back row: Coach Cyndi Oberle-Dahm, Zach Austin, Phil Pearson, Garrett Evans,
Alex Runzo, Nate Klosterman, Steven Stehnach, Michael Green, Chris Norris.
Bond County Community Unit #2 High School
Front row: Logan Lippert, Hollyn Beans, Lauren Karnowski, Elle Shaw, Katie Pollman,
Jasmine Patel, Dam Suess.
Back row: Coach Steve Dannaman, Dellon Sanders, Blake Snyder, Hayden File,
Isaac Gilmore, Dalton Goodman, Peter Huston, Alex Simmonds.
Central Community High School
Front row: Audrey Beckmann, Max Pittman.
Back row: Coach Emily Howell.
Centralia High School
Front row: Rebecca Reynolds, Victoria Sledge, Roger King, Ian Ford, Greg Suwala,
Brendan Harris.
Back row: Monika Pinterova, Zak Shah, Erin Cary, Andrea Pinceti,
Bredesen Hartmann, Brian Evertz, Luke Altenbaumer, Brandon Tate,
Coach Jason Kuester.
Chester High School
Coach Scott Haxton, Brandon Straight.
Christ Our Rock Lutheran High School
Front row: Shannon Leathers, Caitlyn Fuehne, Dorothee Belli, Lydia Brandt,
Ellie Reuter, Emily Droste.
Back row: Elizabeth Watkins, Ben Maschhoff, Brett Hanenberger, Dylan Antonsen,
Jason Howard, Quinn DeBernardi.
Not pictured: Coach Wilfred Pennington.
Collinsville High School
Front row: Andy Doyon, Erika Evers, Hannah Fornero, Katherine Ross, Kailey Vojas.
Back row: Chris He, Matt Kitsch, Chris Stehman, Blake Bluemer, Alfredo Pina,
Andrew Nyland, Evan Lloyd, Jimmy Lymberopoulous, Coach Tom Withee.
Dupo High School
Brendon Garwood, Coach Kelly Walsh.
Edwardsville High School
Front row: Elisabeth McWhorter, Josiah Smith, Max Schaettler, Becca Wiesehan,
Megan Griebel, Stephanie Shady.
Back row: Luke Puchner-Hardman, Luke Leehy, Stephanie Monroe, Thomas Pauk,
Tanner Burge-Beckley, Abigail Veitch, Matt Clarkston, Coach Becky Beal.
Freeburg High School
Front row: Stephanie Wormald, Jessica Martin, Sam Muir, Abby Salvatore,
Mikala Hyatt, Cat Vogel, Mackenzie Mattern.
Back row: Coach Kim Lintker, Maddie Knapp, Stephanie Bechard, Kyle Mitchell,
Dan Borrenpohl, Andy Koeller, Caleb Vines, Zac Williams.
Gibault Catholic High School
Front row: Alexis Schrieber, Sueng-he Han, Jackie Reich, John Orlet.
Back row: Coach Bill Guthrie.
Governor French Academy
Front row: Ali Li, Chu-Yi Chuang, Hana Ramadan, Fiona Xu, Skylar Kline,
Emily Pritchett.
Back row: Josephine Dawson, Robert Schlegel, Jia Ling Zhou, Madi Maharaj,
Joseph Muren, Channing Hunter, Cody Hughes, Taylor Clark,
Coach Christine Stewart.
Highland High School
Front row: Blake Petermeier, Lauren Miller, Olivia Geiger, Amy Klobuchar,
Katie Brinker, Morgan Fuehne.
Back row: Coach Gina Hirsch, Nick Italiano, Jordan Durbin, Melissa Bossler,
Ricky Newcomb, Austin Holtzclaw, Kevin Kimmle, Sam Holdeman, Logan Garthe,
John Petermeier, Coach Deborah Massey.
Lebanon High School
Front row: Parker Seely, Andrew Pollard.
Back row: Coach Keith Otten.
Marissa High School
Front row: Curtis Lewis, Emilie Bollmeier, Kayla Juenger, Jessica Antry,
Brianne Tedrow.
Back row: Joel Klimas, Drew Feig, Kevin Galle, Troy Neal, Justin Sinn, Clint Runyon,
Kyle Jones, Gene Cathcart, Jeremiah James.
Not pictured: Coach Jill Prest.
Mascoutah High School
Front row: Becka Bence, Hannah Ceule, Tabitha Miller, Alexis Pokorney, Kelly Perkins,
Stephen Enochian.
Back row: Katelyn Gibson, Kayla Wiedau, Katherine Knowles, Michael Parks,
Alexis Geurink, Matthew McKenzie, Maxwell Hopkins, Thomas Martinez.
Not pictured: Coach Chris Levrault.
Mater Dei Catholic High School
Front row: Justin Vogt, Alex Toennies.
Back row: Coach Scott Timmermann.
Mulberry Grove High School
Megan Blankenship, Newt Albert, Joanna Brewer. Not pictured: Coach Karla Harre.
Nashville High School
Front row: Meghan Orr, Whitney Wyciskalla, Sara LaBusier, Scott Polczynski,
Tyler Meyer, Alex Lietz.
Back row: Coach Brian Pasero, Megan Hall, Andrew Johnson, Donovan Holle,
Christopher Barkau, Matthew Mittler, Brady Harre, Cassandra Showmaker,
Coach Jean Orr, Elizabeth Engele.
Odin High School
Front row: Blake Uchitjil, Zachary Mulvaney.
Back row: Coach Nancy Schaefer.
O’Fallon Township High School
Front row: Andrew Wise, Heidi Friedeck, Charles Katzer, Michael Scolarici,
Alexander McArthur.
Back row: Coach Eric Curry, Alex Ashley, Sloane Wolter, Erin Cain, Katy Beebe,
Rachel Freese, Jacob Campbell, Matthew Waddel, Benjamin Cook, Jeff Borwey.
Red Bud High School
Front row: Joshua DeRousse, Jordan Hannah, Dillon Salger, Amy Koester,
Torie Ramlose, Deena Patel.
Back row: Coach Brian Magee, Joshua Whelan, Abbey Brundage, Kyle Doiron,
Ryan Shubert, Isaac Shields, Garrett Salger, Levi Smith.
Salem Community High School
Front row: Kolin Clark, Paul Register, Emily Paddick, Peter Daniels,
Connor Stephenson, Coach Lisa Stephenson.
Back row: Bailey Hester, Kaitlin Morkassel, Cassie Ambuehl, Kathleen McGuire,
Miranda Haeuber, Brennan Moore, Atlee Hargis, Jared Simmons,
Christopher Heckman.
Sandoval High School
Tim Hurley.
Not pictured: Coach Amy Telford.
South Central High School
Front row: Celeste Havener, Lindsay Mazanek, Beau Manuel, Dani Hall, Fischer Tharp,
Colby Bushue, J.J. Redding.
Back row: Adam Brimberry, Carissa Lotz, Emily Hanks, Casey Engel,
Derek Harmeier, Frances Hebron, Amanda Hobbs, Coach Levi Bridges.
Sparta High School
Coach Michelle Rhee, Rebecca Heinen.
Waterloo High School
Gabe Hopkins, Lucas Krupp, Coach Lisa Tiedemann.
Wesclin High School
Front row: Claire Haselhorst, Conward Swift, Phil Kunz.
Back row: Coach Jason Schleifer.
Woodlawn Community High School
Kinzie Verhines, Coach Jim Hanner.
