By: Abbie Myers

For the first time Flora High School Science teacher, Dr. Drake can remember, the FHS WYSE team brought home some shiny hardware from the annual competition.

Ten juniors and seniors, chosen by Dr. David Drake, won third overall in the 2019 annual Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering local competition at Olney Central College Wednesday, February 6. The testing revolved around physics, chemistry, English, biology, and mathematics.

According to the College of Engineering at the University of Illinois’ website, WYSE is a sequence of tests for high school students in Illinois and Missouri. The Academic Challenge was created by a Test Production Team for Olney Central College scholarship opportunities for 1st and 2nd place and began in 1975 at John A. Logan College, and currently stands without an official name due to change in ownership.

FHS students in attendance were Madison Beckham, Charlee Blackwell, Jessica Byers, Vivian Duquaine, Nathaniel Freeman, Olivia Luzadder, Lyvia Sanders, Tiarra Sharp, Matthew Suntrup, and Evan VanHoose.

Three students represented FHS well in three different subjects: Duquaine won third place in English, Freeman won third in Chemistry, and VanHoose won second place in Physics.