Results of WYSE Academic Challenge Sectional at McKendree University
(LEBANON, Ill., March 14, 2016) — Students from 33 southwestern Illinois high schools competed in the Illinois Sectional Tournament of the 2016 Worldwide Youth
in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge, held on March 14 at McKendree
University. The top school teams in each of four divisions, based on enrollment size,
were Edwardsville High School, Salem Community High School, Nashville High School
and Gibault Catholic School.
Student participants came from Althoff (Belleville), Belleville West, Bond County
(Greenville), Carlyle, Central Community (Breese), Centralia, Christ Our Rock Lutheran
(Centralia), Collinsville, Columbia, Dupo, Edwardsville, Freeburg, Gibault (Waterloo),
Governor French Academy (Belleville), Highland, Lebanon, Marissa, Mascoutah, Mulberry
Grove, Nashville, O’Fallon, Odin, Okawville, Patoka, Red Bud, Salem, South Central
(Farina), Sparta, Steeleville, Triad, Vandalia, Waterloo and Wesclin.
The Academic Challenge tests high school students in seven subjects. Competing individually
and on school teams, students are tested on 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.
Teams from Edwardsville, O’Fallon, Salem, Waterloo, Nashville, Freeburg, Gibault and
Okawville, as well as more than 60 students, advance to the state finals in Champaign,
Ill.
Team Photos
This is the 13th year that McKendree University has hosted the competition. Dr. Jim Feher, professor
of computer science and computer information systems, chairs the WYSE advisory board.
McKendree-bound seniors who attend one of the university’s scholarship events and
also place in the top three in their school’s division at the WYSE Academic Challenge
are eligible for academic scholarships.
WYSE’s purpose is to advance excellence in science and mathematics and to promote
careers in engineering and the sciences.
-McK-
