BHS
BHS Real World Design Team Wins Again
On February 5th, the BHS Real World Design Team found out that they have won first place in the State of Kansas competition for the second year in a row! That means that the team of Carson Barnes, Brandon Baltzell, Mason Johnson, Shelby Gregory, Carrie Deitz, Mac Halpin and Austin Kraus will be going to Washington D.C. all expenses paid to compete at Nationals. This project couldn’t have been completed without some very dedicated team members that were willing to give up their personal time on weekends and holidays to work on it. Also, the expert coaching of Sandy Barnes was an important factor in our winning. These students have learned what is involved in a real life engineering project, and how a team is more than the sum of it’s members. “I am very proud of them!” said sponsor, Pam Davis.
The Real World Design Project is designed so that there is no one correct answer. Each jet empennage starts with an original tail cone, and then there are hundreds of airfoils to choose from for the horizontal and vertical stabilizers. After you have made several original jet tails that are the correct size and shape to be compatible with the given fuselage and wings, you test them with fluid dynamics software that simulates a wind tunnel.You submit one of your designs, and wait for the judges to decide which is best.
The software we use is the same as the software used by CESSNA and KU to design their jets. The 3 software packages are not easy to master, and so the team learned patience while working with our project support staff online and by phone. One of the most important skills is learning to quit for the day, and come back later to ask more questions and regroup. It is a very difficult project, and over half of the teams in Kansas did not complete it.
Nationals is March 26th-28th in Washington D.C., and before then we need to do another similar project to the one we did, and then perfect our PowerPoint presentation and our 30 page engineering journal. Every member of the team has to know the project thoroughly enough to present their part orally in front of a panel of industry experts. We finished 5th in the nation last year, but I know we are much better prepared than we were last year, so I am excited about the possibilities.
Daffern, Kramps qualify for State Debate
Junior Alex Daffern and Sophomore Sarah Kramps are preparing for State Debate on Jan. 22-23. They will be traveling to Goddard for the tournament.
The team has a lot of work to do to be prepared for state.
“We need to do things such as write negative briefs for numerous cases so we are prepared for any case we may come up against,” Kramps said.
For their affirmative case, the students are using a case Daffern wrote.
“Our affirmative case is The Emergency Food Assistance Program as a social service to those in poverty,” Daffern said. “It’s where the United States Department of Agriculture buys the food and processes it, then sends it to the states based off of their population of homeless, impoverished, and/or unemployed, who then give it to local food banks, agencies, soup kitchens, etc. that will either provide them the food at a special place, or allow them to take it home. It all depends on the local area.”
The team is very confident in their affirmative case.
“Our affirmative case has only lost once,” Daffern said. “So, we feel like we’ll be able to actually get somewhere at state this year. Last year was just practice for this January.”
The debate team has a few more tournaments before state in January. Daffern and Kramps have more preparation to do, but are much more confident about this year than last year.
Story by Erin Jansen, BHS Journalism
‘Li’l Abner’ entertains large crowd
The Baldwin High School musical ‘Li’l Abner’ premiered in front of a packed crowd last Friday at the Baldwin Junior High School auditorium and had another showing Saturday night. BHS english teacher Katherine Cook was stage director and choir teacher Beth Nelson was music director for the musical. Senior Ryan Hodges played the part of ‘Li’l Abner’ and was happy with the way the musical turned out.
“I was really happy with everyone’s performance,” Hodges said. “We put so much effort into this, and that was evident when we finally put it on.”
The musical follows Daisy Mae as she waits for the Sadie Hawkins Day Race to try and catch Li’l Abner. Sadly, before the day of the race the town of Dogpatch is informed that their town will be used an atomic bomb testing ground. The residents of Dogpatch must search for something valuable in their town in order to save it.
The audience’s laughter could be heard throughout the auditorium. The musical proved to be a success.
“It was cute and funny,” junior Michaela Krysztof said. “The leads did a really good job with their parts.”
Junior Jesse Austin played the part of Earthquake McGoon. This was his first acting gig.
“I was pumped honestly,” Austin said. “I have competed in sports at a pretty competitive level in numerous states and arenas and I knew the musical couldn’t be any more nerve racking.”
The cast and crew of ‘Li’l Abner’ began rehearsing Sept. 28. With countless days of hard work and dedication they were able to put together ‘Li’l Abner.’
“When we did our first dress rehearsal it finally felt like we were putting on a musical,” Hodges said.
Story by Megan Hazelwood, BHS Journalism
Students attend Genetics Conference
Three Baldwin High School and two Baldwin Junior High School students went with extended learning teacher Pam Davis to the Sam Rhine Genetics Conference on Monday, Nov. 2, at Olathe South High School.
The students really liked the speaker Rhine.
“The speaker was good, he kept it informative but funny,” sophomore Carrie Deitz said.
The conference covered the latest development in genetic research and how it affects cancer and stem cell research.
“It was really fun and interesting,” Dietz said. “A lot of information thrown at you in a short period of time it was really fascinating to know the things we can do to help people.”
The lecture was four hours long, and it covered 20 pages of outlined material. Davis takes a group each year.
Story by Claire Glover, BHS Journalism
03/10/2010 - loading...
Next Board Meeting
- When: 04/12/2010 6:30 pm
Where: 708 Chapel Street, Baldwin City, Ks 66006 - Agenda: Unavailable