Physics competition gives NHS’s best and brightest a chance to shine

One would normally associate the summer months with an escape from school, a joyous time where the right side of their brain was hardly stressed.  A time of relaxation, hanging out, and time spent on the on the beach rather than with one’s nose stuck in a book.  “School’s out for summer” as Pink Floyd famously screamed.  Right?

Physics teacher Charles Emmert and the U.S. Physics Team feel differently.  The Team selects students from across the entire nation to join their very select program, where they train students in June for the International Physics Olympiad in the summer each year.  Students willing to vie for a spot must take two qualifying tests, and the best and the brightest, the most knowledgeable about the Laws of Physics, will compete with the team in the summer.

For the past several years, Emmert has facilitated gathering students from NHS to take the test in hopes of even just one advancing into the regional round, or maybe even winning a spot on the team.  Emmert teaches a two-semester AP Physics course to primarily seniors.  This year, after his first semester was completed, he took a look at his students’ grades and handpicked the ones he thought would best succeed with the test.  He set the bar at an A-, and everyone with that grade or above was not only permitted, but also encouraged to test the knowledge they learned first semester against the exam.

“I wanted to offer recognition for those students who were successful and hardworking last semester,” Emmert said.  “And really, only the top students would have a reasonable shot.  I feel like there were several students that would do just fine taking the test, but you have to draw the line somewhere.”

The 13 students that Emmert selected will take a 25 question multiple-choice test during the last week of January, mainly testing their knowledge on the mechanics of physics.  Any student who scores high enough on the preliminary exam will take a much longer, more in-depth test in the spring over a much wider range of topics.

NHS has had only one student move on to the preliminary exam in the past, and no one has made the U.S. Physics Team before.  Emmert thinks this year’s group has some good potential, but that, “Even one or two making it to the second test would be great, and if any one of them were to make the national team, that would be incredible.”