299 CHANNEL 2’S ‘RAY’ OF SUNSHINE TO GREET REGIONAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD

Release date: Feb. 19, 2008


News & Public Affairs contact: Randy Weiler, 615-898-2919
Regional Science Olympiad contacts: Dr. Pat Patterson, 615-898-5085
Dr. Amy Phelps, 615-898-2077

CHANNEL 2’S ‘RAY’ OF SUNSHINE TO GREET REGIONAL SCIENCE OLYMPIAD TEAMS FEB. 23


(MURFREESBORO) — WKRN-TV morning meteorologist Jeff Ray once again will bring his expertise to the classroom when he visits campus Saturday, Feb. 23, for the Regional Science Olympiad.
The event will be held from 7:30 a.m. to 5 p.m. at various venues across campus, event director Dr. Pat Patterson said.
Patterson, an associate professor of chemistry, added that Ray, who will oversee “Severe Weather” in the middle-school students’ meteorology event, is a popular coordinator because of his weather knowledge and status as a broadcast personality.
“I'll be having the students look at upper-air profiles and predict what kind of weather will occur at the surface,” Ray said. He added that he had a “presentation problem last year, so I’m rewriting the introduction and initial analysis so more will be going down the right road when the teams start looking at their own data.”
Patterson said Mark LaPorte, an instructor in the Department of Physics and Astronomy, would be busy coordinating three events: “Robo-Cross” and “Scrambler” in the middle-school division and “Robot Ramble” in the high-school division.
In addition to LaPorte and Patterson, at least 40 other faculty and friends of MTSU will coordinate events. At least six students will be event coordinators, with at least 30 additional students helping in other areas, Patterson said.
“We have quite a few students assisting,” Patterson said. “A lot are in the TLSAMP (Tennessee Louis Stokes Alliance for Minority Participation) program —engineer types or wanting to be science people. Others are trying to earn extra credit in my classes.”
Patterson said some of the events have been changed by the national Science Olympiad organization. Some of the middle-school events include “Science Crime Busters,” “Amphibians and Reptiles” and “Trajectory.” High school events also will include “Forensics,” the “Wright Stuff” and “Electric Vehicle.”
The veteran director said she anticipates more than 350 students from at least 11 middle schools and 12 high schools in Middle Tennessee, making it the largest region in the state.
“We’ve got some new teams — Dayspring from Robertson County and Clarksville High School — that we’re excited about,” she said. “Central Middle supposedly is coming for the first time ... (and) Harpeth Hall is coming back to us.”
Middle schools scheduled to send teams include Central Middle, Dayspring Academy, E.A. Cox of Columbia, Harpeth Hall, Martin Luther King Jr. Magnet School, Montgomery Bell Academy, Siegel, St. Bernard Academy, St. Rose of Lima, Smyrna and Stewarts Creek.
High schools scheduled to send teams include Blackman, Cannon County, Clarksville, Dayspring Academy, Franklin High (Teams A and B), Harpeth Hall, Hume-Fogg, MLK, MBA, Riverdale, Siegel and Smyrna.
The awards ceremony will start around 3:30 p.m. in LRC 221. The state Science Olympiad is set April 5 at the University of Tennessee.
2008,For MTSU news and information, go to mtsunews.com.

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