4/6/2016 Mike Koon, Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Over 1,400 high school students from 196 schools cross Illinois will descend on Champaign next week for the state finals of the Worldwide Youth in Science and Engineering (WYSE) Academic Challenge. Students and teams have been competing at regional and sectional competition throughout the past two months and the top performers at those competitions have advanced to the state finals, which will be held April 11-14 at the I-Hotel and Conference Center.
Written by Mike Koon, Marketing & Communications Coordinator
Academic Challenge is a high school academic competition run in Illinois and Missouri hosted by the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and Missouri University of Science and Technology, respectively. Academic Challenge actually started out as Illinois JETS in the 1960s, and then became Academic Challenge in 1996.
The College of Engineering at the University of Illinois grants a $2,000 and $1,000 scholarship to individual first-place and second-place winners, respectively, in each STEM subject to be used by students who will major in an engineering field at Illinois.
Students compete in 14-member varsity teams or as individual at-large competitors. Each student takes two exams. There are seven subject areas from which each student chooses their two tests -- biology, chemistry, computer science, engineering graphics, English, mathematics and physics. The materials for tests are drawn from senior high school and freshman level college curricula and are written by teams of college and university faculty. Each test production team produces three tests of increasing levels of difficulty for the regional, sectional and state finals.
At the state finals level, the top-five scoring teams in each division will be awarded first through fifth place trophies, whereas any at-large competitors and/or any individual members of teams who attain the highest through the sixth-highest scores in the subject in each division will receive a first place through sixth place medallion, respectively.
Schools competing in the Academic Challenge Competition are divided into four divisions based on enrollment. Schools with enrollments larger than 1,500 students will compete on Monday; schools from 701-1,500 students compete on Tuesday; schools with 301-700 students compete on Wednesday; and schools with enrollments of 300 or fewer compete on Thursday. The tests are the same in each division.
Last year’s team champions were Hinsdale Central (Unlimited), Vernon Hills (1500 Division), University of Chicago Laboratory (700 Division Unboundaried), Byron (700 Division Boundaried), Urbana University High School (300 Division Unboundaried), Pecatonica (300 Division Boundaried).
The goal of Academic Challenge is to acquaint high school students with the course content and level of competition that they will experience upon entering a science or engineering curriculum at the college or university level. Consequently, the test content will challenge the brightest students.
The 86 schools that qualified for the team competition:
Unlimited (competing Monday)
Barrington, Champaign Centennial, Collinsville, Danville, Edwardsville, Hinsdale Central, Jacobs,, Libertyville, Naperville Central, Naperville North, New Trier, O’Fallon, Rockford Auburn, Stevenson, United Township
1500 Division (competing Tuesday)
Burlington Central, Champaign Central, Dunlap, Fenwick, Galesburg, Geneseo, Glenwood, Herrin,, Lemont, Mahomet-Seymour, Prairie Ridge, Richmond-Burton, Peoria Richwoods, Richmond-Burton, Rochester, Salem, Sycamore, Vernon Hills, Waterloo
700 Division (competing Wednesday)
Benton, Byron, Carlinville, Carterville, Chicago Christian, Eureka, Freeburg, Hamilton County, Johnsburg, Macomb, Marian Central Catholic, Marmion Academy, Maroa-Forsyth, Alton Marquette, Monmouth-Roseville, Monticello, Nashville, Pleasant Plains, Robinson, Rockridge, Rosary, Timothy Christian, Tri-Valley, University of Chicago Lab School, Normal U-High, Wheaton Academy
300 (competing Thursday)
Athens, Christopher, College Preparatory of America, Cumberland, Decatur St. Teresa, Elgin Academy, Galena, Gallatin County, Gibault, IC Catholic, Islamic Foundation, Keith Country Day, Luther North, Ottawa Marquette, Metro-East Lutheran, Neoga, Okawville, Peoria Christian, Regina Dominican, ROWVA, Sesser-Valier, St. Anthony, Universal School, Urbana Uni-High, Warrensburg-Latham, Williamsfield