Page 8 - SUSQUEHANNA TIMES April 6, 1977 Photo above shows prize winners from Donegal in the county science fair. They are, from left to right, kneeling: Becky Ruhl, Douglas Anspach, Dean Bricker, Grant Markley, Barb Landis, Jacob Sherk, Karen Albright, Phyllis Shope and Sherri Kinsey. Greg Zimmerman Why Donegal is tops in science Once again Donegal High has cleaned up at the Lancaster County Science Fair. Cynthia Emenheiser and Greg Lindemuth car- ried away the Championship and the Re- serve Championship, re- spectively, and other DHS students scooped all three top places and the honor- able mention in the Bio- logy, Chemistry, and Earth and Environmental Science divisions. Donegal students also won mentions and awards in the two other divisions (Physics and En- e. DHS [continued from page 1] Kathi Shelly and Michael Seaman (Honorable Men- tion). Earth and Environment: al: Grant Markley (1st), Douglas Anspach (2nd), and Becky Ruhl (3rd). Physics and Engineering: Eileen Jones (Honorable Mention). General Science: Sherri Kinsey (6th) and Donald Armold (Honorable Men- tion). General Science is the Junior High division, open to 9th graders. Numerous other awards Grand gineering, General Sci- ence). Overall, Donegal took nine of the twelve prizes in the county and 42 of the 96 awards and mentions. That's 75% of the top prizes and 48% of the total. Of Donegal’s approx- imately 90 entries, 51 were winners. Of the 158 entries from all other high schools in the county, SS won. Obviously Donegal is a- head of other schools in science. What accounts for this impressive perfor- mance? DHS Principal Donald Drenner told the Susque- hanna Times, ‘‘Here at Donegal, we have a tradi- tion of doing well in the Science Fairs. We're ex- tremely proud of the stu- dents.”” He related how, at a meeting of school princi- pals, the principal of an- other high school told Mr. Drenner that he thought of every school in terms of it’s being outstanding in some field. “I always think of Donegal in connection with science,”’ the man said. ‘Although we did a little is not shown. Standing in the background are Grand Champ Cindy Emenheiser and Reserve Champ Greg Lindemuth. better this year than last, we've been very strong in this event since I've been here at DHS—that’s about ten years,” Mr. Drenner added. Besides the strong tradi- tion which inspires the stu- dents, DHS has other things going for it. Every student at Donegal must do some sort of research or project in science every year. Some do extra out- side reading, some do re- search, some take other options—but about ‘half choose to do a Science Fair sweeps science fair (cont’d) were given by various organizations, companies, and the armed services. Winners were: Dennis Ebersole, Bruce Eyer, Jay Behling, William Dommel, Denise Grimm, Kevin Mc- Kain, Ann Studholm, Bruce Walters, Michelle Fisher, and Karen Risser. On Friday morning Dale Arnold, president of the Dean Buchenaurer Swim team Dean Alan Buchenauer, son of Mr. and Mrs. Charles Buchenauer of New Haven Street in Mount Joy, is a member of The Johns Hopkins University varsity swimming team. A 1975 graduate of Donegal High School, Dean is a sophomore at the Uni- versity majoring in physics. The BlueJay swimming team, coached by Frank Board of Education, came to Donegal High to con- gratulate the winners over the PA system. Principal Donald Drenner also con- gratulated the students. on Comfort, has won the Middle Atlantic Conference championship for the past six seasons. Last year, the team took second place in Division III at the NCAA championships. project. This policy, in addition to being an excel- lent way for the student to learn on their own initia- tive, give DHS a lead in numbers of available pro- jects for the Fair. Because many students complete four projects through their high school years, they gain valuable experience not only in science research, but also in layout and presentation of projects. These aspects of a project are very im- portant in capturing the judges’ eye and making a neat impression. The best research is unlikely to win an award if it is not presented in a cogent manner. With so many students doing fair projects, there is yet another effect: ideas are floating around the halls of DHS in higher concentrations than at other schools, which per- haps leads to a better choice of subject matter. Some students may try harder, also, knowing that their friends have good projects in the works. Still, given all the factors mentioned above, it’s hard to account for the tremen- dous lead of our local - students. Donegal submits a greater number of pro- jects than other schools, but that doesn’t explain the fact that fully 57% of DHS entries won, while only 34% from all other schools were winners. The differ- ence is the dedication of the Science department. The department has two Biology teachers, one Earth Science teacher, a Phy- sics/Chemistry teacher, and an Environmental Sci- ence teacher. Donegal swept up all the top places at the Fair in Biology, Chemistry, and Earth and Environmental Science, the same areas that the de- partment is strong in. Don- egal also placed in the General Science and Phy- sics/Engineering divisions at the Fair, but did not pull in every award as they did in the other divisions. Obviously the teachers have a lot to do with local eminence in the Science Fairs. While the entire depart- ment deserves congratula- tions and thanks, two men were mentioned to the Times as being especially dedicated. Principal Dren- ner told us, ‘‘William Loercher (Chemistry and Physics teacher) and Emer- son Stehman (Biology teacher and department chairman) have put in plenty of work, and many hours of their own time on weekends and evenings, helping students with their projects.’’ Whatever the reasons, Donegal is certainly tops in science.
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