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BJHS Math and Science Team Takes International Online Challenge

(Article written by Phyllis Coulter, The Daily Pantagraph)
Six gifted Bloomington Junior High School math and science students sat with eyes glued to the clock, waiting for it to tick to 9 a.m. In Chicago, they waited for 9 a.m. In New York, 10 a.m.; in Jerusalem, 8 p.m.
“I’m excited. When do we start?” asked Rikka Skillrud, one of the BJHS students who had been anticipating the event for weeks. Within moments, she heard a woman’s voice over the computer, speaking from Jerusalem and welcoming gifted students from about 30 schools in Israel, New York, Chicago and Bloomington to a real-time, international math and science competition.
The Bloomington students were invited to participate in Thursday’s International Virtual Competition as part of their involvement with the Illinois Math & Science Academy in Aurora and its E2K (Excellence Beyond 2000) program.The atmosphere in the room was tense as the students got the first question. As a 60-second timer ticked down, seventh-graders Skillrud, Lauren Yoder, Alex Kizer, Ben Gesell, Ram Santanam and D.J. Olker huddled to discuss the question.They answered correctly with time to spare.Science questions about bacteria and viruses followed rapidly at one point. Some questions gave students as long as four minutes to answer.
Bloomington’s team was often right, but not always. To answer a question about identifying viruses by shape, the Bloomington team “raised its hand” by pressing a computer icon. The moderator chose them, and they answered correctly over the microphone. They were greeted with applause from the other side of the world. “This is fun. I’d like to be friends with all the people,” Kizer said.Soon after a New York team was asked to answer, and noisy talking came all at once. “Our bad,” said one student, provoking laughter.
The six BJHS students gathered around a central computer or sat at adjacent computers doing quick Internet research and relaying it when more information was needed. Sometimes they dashed to the back of the room where prepared Petri dishes and telescopes were ready resources for finding answers.Through it all, the teachers tried to be supportive without interfering. “I’ll root for you, I’ll cheer for you, I’ll cry for you, but I will not give you the answer,” said science teacher and team coach, Mike Jones, when a student looked up at him in question. “You’re six smart kids. You can figure it out.”Sue Silvey, Bloomington Junior High School’s principal, dropped in for moral support for the team and soon was caught up in the tension and excitement as students debated one of the answers.
This was the second year for the competition and the first time Bloomington competed, Jones said. The prizes are mostly “bragging rights,” Jones said. Certificates likely will be awarded as well, but much of the reward was the chance to interact with students from so far away, Jones said.

BJHS Wrestlers and 7th Grade Volleyball Team are State Champions!

On Saturday, March 8th, our BJHS Wrestling team won the team state title in the tournament held at Northern Illinois University. This is the second year that our wrestlers have won the state title. For more information and to view photos, visit the wrestling website at http://www.district87.org/bjhs/wrestling/ and click on the link for State Photos.
On Tuesday, March 11th, our 7th grade Girls Volleyball Team won the Class 4A state title in the tournament held at our school. The girls won the title match in two games with a score of 25-22 and 25-19.
Congratulations, athletes, on a wonderful championship season!

BJHS Students Present at Technology Conference

On Saturday, February 16th, twenty-seven BJHS students presented at the 8th annual SIT Conference held at Heartland Community College in Normal. The Students Involved with Technology Conference is an annual conference which is currently hosted by Heartland Community College and ISU for students in grade 3 through 12. So what makes the SIT Conference stand out? The technology training sessions also completely presented by 3rd-12th grade students. While adult volunteers from local schools and the community help the day run smoothly, all presentations are prepared and presented by the students!
Bloomington Junior High was by far the most represented school, sponsoring 13 different groups of presenters. District 87 elementary schools Bent and Washington were also well represented, sending multiple groups each. Dozen of other BJHS students were also present as participants. Please congratulate these student presenters for giving of their time and efforts.
Alex Scott - Free and Fast Website Designing
Nick Frichette - Robotics Unleashed Version 2.0
Toni Anderson, Andrea Dillman, Rachel Pierce - Shortcuts for Dummies
Alexandra Boge, Sydney Hendricks, Grant Snow - AOL Instant Messenger Tips and Tricks
Adam Brockman, Brittany Liska, Brock Twyman - How To Import Music & Videos To Your iPOD Using iTunes
Alex Kizer, Casey Laughlin - Using Command Prompt to Command Your Computer
Erika Adams and Sreelakshmi Suresh - Tips and Tricks for Google Earth
Courtney Bahler, McKenna Calhoon, Brianna Winkers - Get Safe with MySpace
Steffen Cody and Justin DeFields - Google SketchUp
Cole Rodgers and Jakob Scogin - Not YouTube, it's SchoolTube
Ram Santanam - YouTube
Will Gill and Jacob Oller - Cool Open Source Applications
Peter Dirks and Jason Chen - How to make Machinima
Our students were also fortunate enough to win three out of the four top prizes offered only to presenters in a drawing at the end of the conference!!!!
Cole Rodgers won a new i-Pod. iPod stereo, and an iTunes gift card.
McKenna Calhoon won a digital camera along with a digital picture frame.
And Steffen Cody was the grand prize winner of the 32" plasma HDTV along with a home theater system.
For more photos from the conference and of our lucky prize winners, visit:
http://www.district87.org/bjhs/sit_conference_photos.htm