On April 13, two WYSE (Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering) competitors, juniors Hannah Loizzo and Elliot Stahnke, will compete in a battle of the brains in a statewide competition that will be held at the University of Illinois.

They compete in what is know as the Academic Challenge, which Loizzo described as “a series of multiple choice tests in different academic areas, which you choose two. The tests are forty minutes long, and I am pretty sure they are all multiple choice.’’

WYSE competitions include tests in biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering graphics, English, mathematics and physics. The competitors take two tests in their two areas of expertise and their scores, once compared to all the other competitors, determine their ranking.

“For Libertyville, everyone is able to go to regionals, then to qualify for sectionals, you need to either place first or second individually in your subject, or the whole team can qualify by placing first or second. At sectionals, you can qualify for state by the same means, or you could obtain above the qualifying score,” said Loizzo.

At sectionals, Loizzo received a fourth place in chemistry and was able to qualify for state while Stahnke placed first in both math and physics, solidifying his claim to a position at state. Although Loizzo got fourth, she was still able to qualify for state since she tested and got a 37/40 or a 92.5% on the test.

To prepare for the pressure that state is putting on them, Loizzo stated that she “will probably go over the AP chemistry review book that [she] borrowed from Ms. Rukes as well as print off some old exams and go through those.”

“Otherwise, I have the bad habit of not studying a ton because I feel like I either know the material or I don’t. However, I will probably bombard [Mr. Pete] Dawson with a ton of chemistry questions on the trip down to U of I,” inserted Loizzo.

Stahnke disclosed that “Mr. Dawson gave us a link to all of the past tests for the competition, so I’ve been looking at those and taking them and learning from them.”

All that studying will pay off since Stahnke compares WYSE, which is more knowledge-based, to math team, which is more about using what you know in abstract ways to attempt to solve problems: “I think it’s interesting that the WYSE stuff is different than math team competitions because for math team, a lot of the problems are more about problem-solving skills and you don’t have to know as much as long as you apply it really well. Whereas WYSE is really, really knowledge-based and you have to know a ton of different stuff in order to be able to answer all of the questions.”

Mr. Dawson, chemistry teacher and WYSE sponsor, highlighted the more positive part of the school system which the WYSE competitions reveal: “I feel like the students of today, the teenagers of today, the education system of today get beat up in the media by pointing out any cases that seem like they are negative examples of things. Whenever I go to these types of competitions and see the really talented kids who are taking advantage of the opportunities that they have, the technologies set students today ahead of students in past generations because of the opportunities they have and being connected to so much information.”

On Monday April 13th, Loizzo earned a 4th place medal through her score of 37/40 for chemistry. Stahnke placed second in both his physics with a score of 32/35 and math with a score of 37/40 along with winning a $1000 scholarship if he ends up attending the University of Illinois College of Engineering.