By Christian Coffman

NATCHEZ — For a group of Cathedral students, science has become more than a class period. It has become a passion.

Thirty students that make up the school’s Science Olympiad teams walked away with first place in both middle school and high school levels at the regional Science Olympiad at Copiah-Lincoln Community College Natchez campus two weeks ago.

“We placed 14 out of the 15 events,” school science teacher and Science Olympiad coordinator Denise Thibodeaux said.

The high school team won 28 medals and the middle school team won 26 medals. This was the first year middle school teams competed in district competition, Thibodeaux said.

The Mississippi Science Olympiad is a hands-on science competition which challenges students with a series of exercises. Each test focuses on a particular science, such as anatomy, physics and ecology. Many of the challenges include building projects and doing research before the event. Other challenges included written exams.

“On our own time, we made a binder before the event and take all the information we can,” high school team member Emily Hootsell said. “It’s a way to prove you’ve done the research.”

Hootsell won second place in the invasive species and disease category and fourth place with her classmate Miller Downer in the robot arm event.

“(The robot arm) was the most fun to work on,” said Downer.

For the robot event, the contestants worked with Lucien Junkin, a Cathedral High alumnus, who is a robotics engineer at NASA in Houston.

High School team member Rudy Nugent said his project on wind power became a personal passion.

“It became my child,” Nugent said.

When asked which project was the most challenging, the middle school and high school teammates both agreed that the tower building was the most strenuous.

“We had to weigh and measure (the towers] to specific measurements, put it above a pit, and place a bucket that can hold 33 pounds of sand,” Carmen Serio said. “It’s all to see if the tower can withstand the weight.”

Thibodeaux said the teams still have to prepare for the March 30 state tournament at the University of Southern Mississippi in Hattiesburg.

The state tournament Thibodeaux said will be challenging, but she believes her students will be ready.

Until then, the two teams will be busy feeding their passion for science studying two nights a week all in the quest for a Mississippi Science Olympiad state title.