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PBHS science team competes at Colorado

"This team was pretty much hand-selected," said science teacher Ann Leppke of the group of five Peabody-Burns senior boys grinning at the camera. "Those . . . are high achievers, they are self-motivated and had competed in other academic contests."

Leppke and PBHS math instructor Brian Simmonds also were all smiles as they told of a weekend competition pitting the five-member PBHS team against students on 24 teams from places like Colorado Springs, Loveland, Aurora, and Ft. Collins, Colo., Logan, Utah, and Casper and Cody, Wyo.

Joseph Brunner, Derrick Simmonds, Andrew Topham, Jason Unruh, and Jacob Wolfe attended regional competition Saturday in Boulder, Colo., in the Mountain Mariner Competition of the National Ocean Sciences Bowl.

The team took fifth place among the 24 teams from 18 schools.

Simmonds, who accompanied the group, said the students were a bit apprehensive at first. "They worried about coming in dead last," he said with a laugh. "They did fine."

"I knew they would be OK," said Leppke. "I just had no idea that they would compete at the level that they did.

"There was very little organized preparation for the competition. I gave them the contest web site to look at and told them to read everything they could about the ocean," she added. "They already knew more than they thought they did."

Leppke said she got information in the fall about the Ocean Sciences Bowl contest at Colorado University. Surprisingly it appeared there was no cost for participation.

"I looked over the literature and wondered what the catch might be," she said. "But there wasn't one. An organization called the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences was willing to foot the bill for travel and accommodations. It didn't cost the district anything to have the kids go compete."

Leppke said she and Simmonds filled out the application and sent it in. They secured a spot in the competition.

After they were accepted Leppke told the kids they were the "scout" team. "I told them to do their best, come back and let us know if it is a competition that we want to go to again. We planned to pick their brains about how we could better prepare for it," she said.

Simmonds voiced his appreciation for the students on the team. "They studied on their own. They read whatever they could find," he said. "The format was a lot like quiz bowls and they are all familiar with that. The topics included chemistry of the ocean, physics, geography, weather patterns, and biology.

"The Colorado regional contest is the only one of 25 around the country that is land-locked. The group that took first place, from Ft. Collins, Colo., will go to national competition in New York in April," he added.

Leppke said she and Simmonds will work on selecting a group for next year and try the competition again. "And there is a group of freshmen that would do well in this," she added. "Maybe they could be groomed to go as sophomores and work up to a really good finish by their senior year."

Leppke praised the five boys who placed in this year's competition. "This group is smart — they do very well academically. Their parents have been active in their education and have encouraged them to excel. And the kids push themselves," she said.

"Every one of them is a product of a USD 398 education. All of them have been in this system since kindergarten. I think that speaks volumes for what we are doing in our district," she added.

"When we send kids to competitions, and they excel, it should be a pat on the back to everyone in the district. The communities should take pride in this accomplishment."

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