Fifth to eighth grade students from El Dorado Schools came together on February 28, to compete for the top prize in the Union County Local You Be The Chemist Challenge. A seventh grader from Barton Junior High won the local chemistry competition. Wyatt Shankle beat 28 students to become the 2018 You Be The Chemist Challenge® Local Champion. Wyatt, along with the top 15 competitors, will represent El Dorado at the state You Be The Chemist Challenge® in El Dorado April 20, 2018.
Developed by the Chemical Educational Foundation® (CEF), the You Be The Chemist Challenge® is an exciting question-and-answer competition that motivates fifth to eighth grade students to sharpen their knowledge of chemistry concepts and their real-world applications. Students compete for prizes at the local and state levels, and the ultimate prize of a trip to Washington D.C. to vie for college scholarships. The Challenge program relies on partnerships between community members who seek to foster student engagement with science, including industry, schools, universities and community organizations.
The 2018 Union County Local Challenge was held at the TAC House and was sponsored by El Dorado Chemical, Murphy USA, LanXess, Tetra Technologies, El Dorado Education Foundation and El Dorado School District. After correctly answering over 60 chemistry and general science questions through multiple rounds of competition, Wyatt Shankle was declared the Union County Local Challenge Champion. Kieran Obiozo, a seventh grader from Barton Junior High in El Dorado; Hailey Talley, an eighth grader from Barton Junior High, and Isaac Stell, a fifth grader from Washington Middle School earned the titles of first, second and third runners-up respectively. Each of the top four finalists received a plaque, a Walmart gift card and a book on the periodic table.\
The top 15 competitors in the challenge will advance to the state competition. In addition to the top four winners, those representing El Dorado will be: Kamron Bibby, Cooper Carelock, Honor Cotton, Wenhau Huang, Laney Langston, Rhea Neugebauer, Sarah Sprawls, Addyson Taylor, Megan Walters, and Nathan Woolen.