By Benjamin Fu
Gargoyle staff reporter
Posted Monday, March 12, 2007, The OG, news & student awards

SEEKING ITS 10TH consecutive state title, Uni High is on its way to the finals of the 2007 Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering Academic Challenge after scoring a perfect 500 in the sectionals round Thursday at Eastern Illinois University in Charleston.

In order to get a perfect score, a team must have the top two scores in chemistry, English, math, and two other subjects. The only competition the school faced was Danville High, which defeated Uni in biology. Fourteen of Uni's 18 WYSE participants placed in at least one category, with six students placing twice.

The team has raised the ante this year by deciding to compete in Division 700 (typically for schools with an enrollment from 301 to 700) at finals, instead of the usual Division 300 (enrollment of 300 or less). State finals for Division 700 will be held April 18 at the Illini Union on the University of Illinois campus.

Division 700 boasts competition from schools such as University of Chicago Laboratory High School, which has been a dominating force in this respective division.

How dominant has U-High Chicago been? The school has won six of the last seven titles in Division 700. It placed second to Richmond-Burton in 2003.

The state competition allows for only 14 students per team, so four members of Uni's current WYSE team will not be able to compete next month. Physics teacher James Carrubba is the team's sponsor.

The following Uni students took third place or higher at sectionals:

Biology
— 3rd: Luke Chiang

Chemistry
— 1st: Alex Cahill
— 2nd: Aria Collopy
— 3rd: Victoria Wang

Computer Science
— 1st: Marquis Wang
— 2nd: Robert Boyce
— 3rd: Benjamin Schaap

Engineering Graphics
— 1st: Ian Chen
— 2nd: Victoria Wang

English
— 1st: Christine Cheng
— 2nd: Ben Hyman
— 3rd: Benjamin Fu

Math
— 1st: Marquis Wang, Luke Chiang
— 2nd: Christine Cheng, Jennifer Roloff
— 3rd: Robert Boyce

Physics
— 1st: Alex Cahill
— 2nd: Daisy Hassani
— 3rd: Chandra Pathuri

Eastern Illinois University has hosted sectionals of the WYSE Academic Challenge since 1999. For a list of past sectionals winners, go to EIU's pre-engineering Web site.

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