UA Announces High School Physics Contest Winners

TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – More than 125 high school students from across the region recently competed in The University of Alabama’s annual High School Physics Contest.

The top two individual finishers in the UA contest’s written exam will receive four-year, in-state tuition scholarships if they choose to attend the University.

The contest is typically attended by students from across Alabama, Mississippi, Tennessee and Georgia. It is hosted by UA’s department of physics and astronomy, and this year’s contest committee was chaired by Dr. William Keel, professor of astronomy.

The award recipients are as follows:

Overall performance:

	(Not Pictured)
1st Place: Randolph School, Huntsville (David Gryzbowski accepts the trophy on behalf of his schoolmates)	2nd Place: Darlington School, Rome, Ga.	3rd Place: Briarwood Christian School, Birmingham (Kelsey Dunn accepts award on behalf of her schoolmates).

Top 10 Individuals:

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1st: Mitchell Hughes, Homewood High School (Hughes earned a perfect score).	2nd: Kurt von Laven, Randolph School, Huntsville	3rd: Songkiat Nutalaya, Darlington School, Rome, Ga.	4th: Kevin (Tsan Ting) Shen, Darlington School, Rome, Ga.
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5th: Taylor Smith, Briarwood Christian School, Birmingham	6th: William Gililand, Darlington School, Rome, Ga.
7th: Jason Hon, Randolph School, Huntsville; Brian Jokich, Randolph School, Huntsville; Bianca Kuczynski, Randolph School, Huntsville and Seth Bowman, Grissom High School, Huntsville (four-way tie).

Divisional Team Awards:

Small Public Schools

1st place: Ranburne High School, team D (From left: Lucas Gosdin, Carla Smith, Josh Brock and T.S. North)	2nd place: Ranburne High School, team C (From left: Jacob Hanson, Riley Robertson, Tiffany Poore and Buck English)
3rd place: Ranburne High School, team B (From left: Valerie Messer, Ann-Sophie Fischer, Rachel Echols and Bryan Herran)

Large Public Schools

1st place: Grissom High School, Huntsville, team A(From left: Robert Liaghati, Bryan McMeen, Seth Bonman, Matthew Haley)	2nd place: Homewood High School, team C(From left: Emma Catt, Charlie Preston, Drew Templeton and Ashley Laws)
3rd place: Homewood High School, team G(From left, David Simpson, Josh Donaldson, Stan Badger and Mitchell Hughes)

Private Schools

	(Not Pictured)
1st place: Randolph School, Huntsville, team B(From left: Kurt Von Laven, Brian Jokich, Grant Alexander and Jason Hon)	2nd place: Darlington School, Rome, Ga.
3rd place: Randolph School, Huntsville, team A(From left: Chris Romanczuk, Sami Ahmed, Bianca Kuczynski and Jonathan Fisher)

The physics and astronomy department is part of UA’s College of Arts and Sciences, the University’s largest division and the largest liberal arts college in the state. Students from the College have won numerous national awards including Rhodes Scholarships, Goldwater Scholarships and memberships on the USA Today Academic All American Team.