Central Methodist University held its annual Momberg High School Math and Science Competition on Tuesday, Nov. 14, and this year, the stakes were even higher for those participating.
Approximately 60 students from 10 Missouri high schools took part in the event, with most schools fielding two teams of three students. At stake, this year, were scholarships for top-performing students.
Participating schools included Chillicothe, Christian Fellowship (Columbia), Fayette, Glasgow, Marceline, North Callaway, Paris, Sacred Heart (Sedalia), Slater, and Sturgeon.
The groups competed in a knowledge-based round of questions related to chemistry, biology, physics, and math before taking on a performance event.
During this portion, students were asked to try to find the mass of a golf ball, determine the height of Central’s historic clock tower, and graph data and interpret their results.
“I was impressed with the students’ knowledge and their ability to apply their knowledge to develop unique solutions to problems posted in the performance events,” said James “Tiger” Gordon, professor of chemistry and chair of the Division of Science at CMU.
The combined scores from the two events determined the three winning teams, who received a plaque for their school. To make the top prizes even sweeter, the individual students who made up the winning teams were awarded scholarships to CMU -- $1,000 going to the first place team members, $750 to second place, and $500 to third place.
First place winners were Tony Chiolerio, Whitney Sheffield, and Wesley Sportsman from Marceline High School; second place went to Colin Fuemmeler, Logan Fuemmeler, and Ariana Moore from Glasgow High School; and third place was awarded to Luke Baxter, Leo Jiang, and Yang Liu from Christian Fellowship High School (Columbia).
