You Be The Chemist

Grosse Pointe students made a clean sweep at the Wayne Regional You Be the Chemist Challenge Monday night.
 
Created by the Chemical Educational Foundation (CEF), the third annual You Be The Chemist Challenge (YBTCC) competition aims to engage grade 5-8 students in a dynamic event that partners members of the chemical industry with schools and organizations in the communities in which they operate.

The Regional Challenge, which was held at Wayne RESA, began with 32 qualified students from around the county.  Students answered chemistry questions throughout multiple rounds, and were eliminated when they answered too many questions incorrectly in a round.
 
By the time the night was over, Grosse Pointe students had placed in the top five positions.
 
Pierce eighth grader and honors science student Macen S. took first place overall, winning an iPod among other prizes.  Macen says his parents quizzed him at odd times for weeks leading up to the challenge, even waking him up at night to ask him questions. Apparently it worked!
 
Second place went to Brownell seventh grader and honors science student Mark A.  Mark won an iPod Mini and other various prizes.  Third and fourth places were taken by Mike M. and Mark L., respectively, both Parcells eighth-grade honors science students.  Mike won a $50 gift certificate and both received other science prizes.  Paige H., an eighth grader from Pierce, placed fifth.
 
Mrs. Danusia Danko of Pierce received a $150 gift certificate from Frey Scientific for being Challenge winner Macen’s teacher.
 
Mrs. Danko and many other Grosse Pointe teachers were in attendance at the event, along with parents, to cheer on their middle school students from Pierce, Parcells, Brownell, and magnet students from Ferry and Defer.
 
Overall, all of our students did well in the Challenge.  Notable especially was the performance of some of our Ferry and Defer 5th graders, who hung on through five and six rounds against students much older than themselves.
 
Our top three winners, Macen, Mark, and Mike, will continue on to compete at the State Challenge on April 26th in Midland.  Best wishes to our fine, future Grosse Pointe chemists!
 
 
Submitted by: Chris Geerer, Science Specialist, Grosse Pointe Public Schools