Crawfordsville Team Stars in Chemistry Olympics

Crawfordsville's winning team

Twenty-five local chemistry students got to flex their muscles in the chemistry labs at Wabash College Thursday.

Mental muscles, that is.

Students from second year and advance placement chemistry courses from Crawfordsville, Harrison, and Greencastle high schools competed at Wabash in the second annual Chemistry Olympics.

Students compete in a five-part competition that tests their chemistry knowledge, speed and accuracy. The competitors compete in a solution identification race, a solution density drop, a titration race, a periodic table race, and a chemical quiz show.

Greencastle's Brittany Hanners and Sarah Wilson

The competition was the brain child of Wabash senior Adam Moser, who came up with the idea last year as a way to introduce students to college chemistry students.

"We just saw this as something good our chemistry department could do to have some fun with chemistry," says Moser. "And since the competitors are all high school juniors, it's a good time for them to visit a college chemistry department and meet chemistry majors."

Five-person teams competed for the coveted Silver Beaker Award, which is the all-around award for the team that scores the highest in the competition. Individual event awards are also presented.

Crawfordsville chemistry teacher Pru Phillips' students won. The winning team included Abigail Gates, April Bridgham, Nikki Perry, Renae Pruett, and Hayley Allis.

Crawfordsville's Nikki Perry

Moser hopes the competition, which is open to chemistry classes from Montgomery and its surrounding counties, will continue even after his graduation this May.

"All of our event leaders are senior chemistry majors at Wabash," he said. "But we made sure that all of their assistants are juniors with hopes that the competition will continue for years to come."