Vol. 92, Issue 5
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Event continues despite funding problem
By Courtney Summers
Echo Staff Writer
Southeast Raleigh High School claimed top place at the High School Science Bowl hosted by N.C. Central University Jan. 27.
Students on the winning team included: Kristen Melton, Robert Todd, Osita Udekwu, Sundhar Ramalingam, and Ryan Peacock. Advanced Placement Biology teacher Cathy Haywood was their advisor.
Raleigh’s Enloe High School won second place and Chapel Hill High finished third. In all, 15 teams participated in the one-day event. Shawn Sendlinger, NCCU associate professor of chemistry organized the science bowl, held in the Farrison-Newton Communication Building.
When Mr. Sendlinger was asked about his role in the science bowl he stated, “I pretty much coordinated the whole thing, but I’m still not done I have to take the winning team to the national competition,” said Sendlinger. Frustration had come about in his voice. The preparation of the science bowl was tremendously stressful.
The science bowl has been taking place 11 years, nationally. This is the bowl’s seventh year in North Carolina.
According to Sendlinger the science bowl relies on funding from corporate sponsors, but none supported the contest this year. Corporations such as Nortel Inc. had “bagged out” from assisting with finances, which put the associate professor in a dilemma. The situation almost forced the bowl to be cancelled.
“Funding is critical,” said Sendinger. “If we don’t get funding we will have to hold the science bowl somewhere else.”
Normally, the local competitions are held at corporations involved with the U.S. department of energy and the department of energy labs, or schools involved with the program that have energy departments.
Questions for the contest are from sources provided by the U.S. Department of Energy.
As coordinator of the science bowl, Sendlinger still hopes to receive grant money to help out with the cost of the future science bowls to come.
A banquet was held the night before the competition, all the participants, coaches and faculty participates was invited. Dr. Calvin Howell was the guest speaker. Howell is currently involved in the physics departments at NCCU and Duke.
Sendlinger said that the purpose of the bowl is “to get high school kids excited about science and math and hopefully they will enter college and major in either of the subjects.”