ETHS Seniors Make National Math Challenge Finals

The following news items were submitted by Evanston Township High School.

ETHS team named finalist in national math challenge  

A team of Evanston Township High School seniors has been named one of six national finalists in the Moody's Mega Math (M3) Challenge, an applied math contest that is organized by the Society for Industrial and Applied Mathematics (SIAM). Maggie Davies, Caroline Duke, Laura Goetz, Katie Latimer, and Dina Sinclair worked for 14 hours to present a solution to a pertinent, real-world issue and are preparing for the finals on April 28-29. 

Now in its eighth year, the M3 Challenge requires high school students to use hard numbers and objective evaluations to come up with solutions to an open-ended problem. This year’s challenge asked teams to address the issue of plastic waste filling the nation’s landfills, come up with the best recycling methods for U.S. cities to implement based on their demographics, and recommend guidelines for nationwide recycling standards.

The only finalist from Illinois, the ETHS team was selected from more than 1,000 teams which represented a record number of competitors for the contest. Approximately 5,800 high school students from 29 states in the U.S. entered the 2013 M3 competition in which schools are allowed only two teams each year. ETHS teacher Mark Vondracek, who coaches the ETHS teams, also commended the high school’s second team comprised of Marc Bouchet, Jay Honnold, David McDonald, Sam Miller, and Austin Schilling who “developed their own excellent paper.” 

The six finalist teams advance to the national contest in New York City where they will make presentations to judges in an effort to win scholarships. All costs for the trips are covered by the contest sponsor, the Moody's Foundation, a charitable foundation established by Moody's Corporation.

The Moody's Mega Math Challenge highlights applied mathematics and computational science as powerful problem-solving tools. One of the goals of the contest is to inspire future scientists and engineers to careers in applied math, economics, and finance. For more information about the M3 Challenge, visit http://m3challenge.siam.org/.

Evanston High School teacher wins prestigious science award

GionMatthias Schelbert, astronomy/physics teacher at Evanston Township High School, is the 2013 recipient of the Harald Jensen Award. Schelbert is the first ETHS staff member to receive this peer award which honors teachers who use physics to inspire and intrigue students as exemplified by Harald Jensen, a former faculty member of Lake Forest College.

Harald Jensen was an influential member and founder of the Illinois State Physics Project, which expanded to Physics Northwest and Physics West. The award established in Jensen’s name is given annually to a high school teacher or college professor with less than 10 years of experience who embraces the enthusiasm that Jensen brought to his classroom. 

Schelbert received a plaque on April 10 that provides a message of encouragement to the honoree by stating, “In teaching physics, emulate Harald's enthusiasm, his ‘phenomenological’ teaching approach, and instill an understanding and appreciation of physics. Be the best that you can be.” 

ETHS Chess Team brings home national champion

ETHS senior Sam K. Miller earned six wins and a draw to win his section at the Chess SuperNationals held April 5-7, 2013 in Nashville, TN. According to the U.S. Chess Federation, which sponsors the SuperNationals, the event broke the attendance record for largest rated chess competition in history with 5,335 participants. 

Nearly 400 players competed in Miller’s section and he had a near perfect score while leading his Section's U1200 team to a ninth place trophy. Team members in this section were juniors Alex Novak and Taylor Sims and freshman Sam Carvajal. 

In other sections, ETHS senior Maddie Reiches earned second place in her class as did junior Xander Nicolson. "Their team, in the top section, managed a 21st place trophy despite playing opponent much higher rated than they were," stated ETHS Chess Team coach Ken Lewandowski. Filling out this team were sophomores Eli Goering, Benedict Brady and Justin Liao, junior Jacob Reber and freshman Nathan Holzmueller.

ETHS "rookies" managed a 15th place team trophy in the Unrated Section of the SuperNationals, despite having only three players (a full team is four members). Freshman Ian Seegers lead this group with a 4-2-1 record. Helping him were senior Lukas Gladic and freshman Tom Davies.

Complete results of the Chess SuperNationals are online at http://www.uschess.org/content/view/12160/707/. 

USDA food/nutrition chief visits ETHS

Audrey Rowe, administrator for Food and Nutrition Services at the U.S. Department of Agriculture in Washington, D.C., visited Evanston Township High School on April 8, 2013 and met with nutrition services staff about local food sourcing. As part of Rowe’s local visit, she received a first-hand glimpse at a new “Farm to School” model being piloted at District 202 and District 65 schools.

The goal of Farm to School is to make it easier for school food service programs to purchase foods produced by local farmers. Regional products and can include everything from fresh fruit and vegetables to the wheat in pizza crust, beans in chili, rice in stir fry, turkey in sandwiches, and cheese in quesadillas. The USDA supports the Farm to School Program through research, training, technical assistance and grants. As part of a nationwide initiative, Rowe visits schools throughout the country to look for innovative ideas to get students to eat healthier foods.

During tours of Evanston’s Dewey Elementary School and ETHS, Rowe met with representatives from FarmsLogix and Testa Produce to learn about how area schools are providing access to fresh, healthy meal options for students while also providing economic opportunities for Midwest farmers and local food distributors. FarmLogix provides technology and services to facilitate ordering produce from hundreds of farmers within a 250 mile radius of Chicago. Evanston resident Linda Mallers has connected her FarmLogix company with Testa Produce, a food distribution company, to deliver the farm produce to schools.

“It was a pleasure to have Audrey Rowe recognize the great changes we are making in our lunch program. She now sees it’s possible for many schools in the country to source local foods AND the students enjoy them!” stated ETHS Director of Nutrition Services Kim Minestra. “I hope she uses both the districts as a model for the possibilities.”