Science Students Takes Top Places at Milwaukee Competition

Students from were among the best in Milwaukee School of Engineering's annual "OP"portunity Science Conference. The competitions challenge the skills and abilities of students at all levels.

Two teams coached by Pete Dawson and Dave Kreutz took first and second place.

 senior Sandeep Balasubraum, who was part of the first-place team, says the hardest aspect of the competition is the sheer volume of the material covered.

“Even among the members of our team who are taking all four AP sciences offered at , there is still the problem of having to answer questions about the second semester of a class we are currently enrolled in,” Balasubraum said.

For the OP Science competition, teams of eight students completed individual tests in biology, chemistry and physics, and they participated in a team event. Twenty-two teams competed this year and winners completed the tests with the most accuracy. Wisconsin’s Brookfield East High School took third place in the competition.

Balasubraum says the questions can be extremely specific at times, in which case a general concept does not help very much.

“The general science section can also be a bit hit or miss due to its broad range of topics,” he said.

But it’s not all work and no play for the students.

“The best part (of the competition) every year is the stop at Culver's on the way back!” he said.