Local high schools compete in ACES Regional at RLC

INA, Ill. (Feb. 7, 2020)
Some of the brightest students from around the region converged on the Rend Lake College campus Wednesday for a battle of wits.

The annual Academic Challenge in Engineering and Science (ACES and formerly known as WYSE) saw ten local high schools bring students to compete in Biology, Chemistry, Computer Science, Engineering Graphics, English, Mathematics and Physics.

Alison Venus of Chester High School attempts to remove a Jenga block while keeping the tower from falling. Giant Jenga was one of many activities available to local ACES teams during the regional competition at Rend Lake College.

Benton High School, Chester High School, Christopher High School, Hamilton County High School, Mt. Vernon Township High School, Pinckneyville High School, Sesser-Valier High School, Waltonville High School, Webber High School and Ziegler-Royalton High School all competed in the test-taking competition.

RLC staff also provided some competitions for the teams while their scores were processed. One design competition challenged students to create an aircraft that could fly the farthest without breaking a couple of eggs on board. The Webber High School team took home the design title this year.

Gabe Tisdale throws a plane designed by students at Mt. Vernon Township High School as fellow Mt. Vernon student Daniel Song watches. The goal of the contest was to design an aircraft that could fly the farthest while also keeping two passenger eggs from breaking upon landing. The team from Webber High School won the competition.

Students who advanced from the regional competition will go on to compete in the sectional competition at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale on March 11. If they advance from there, the state competition will be held at Eastern Illinois University on April 20-23.

Overall Winners
The overall winners of the ACES competition were (left to right) Charu Jain of Mt. Vernon High School for Biology, Cole McMahon of Hamilton County High School for Physics, Austin Stanley of Hamilton County High School for Computer Fundamentals, Juliana Mitchell of Zeigler-Royalton High School for English, Vanessa Coogan of Zeigler-Royalton High School for Biology, Ben Houle of Mt. Vernon High School for Chemistry and Graphics, and Ryker Kiselewski of Sesser-Valier for Math and Physics.

Division 300 winners

Biology

1^st Vanessa Coogan Zeigler-Royalton      

2^nd Cordelia Lemons of Sesser-Valier and Derek Sample of Sesser-Valier

3^rd Hudson Stubblefield of Sesser-Valier and Cera Wilson of Zeigler-Royalton

Chemistry

1^st Reagan Newell of Waltonville and Eli Schoenbaechler of Sesser-Valier

2^nd Shelbi Patterson of Christopher and Brittany Withrow of Webber

3^rd Maisey Jones of Waltonville

Computer Science

1^st Nathaniel Groff of Webber and Carter Maloney of Christopher

2^nd Ian Behm of Christopher and Savanna Hulbert of Webber

3^rd Kaleb Barnett of Zeigler-Royalton

English

1^st Juliana Mitchell of Zeigler-Royalton

2^nd Gillian Lemons of Sesser-Valier

3^rd Gabby Dover of Zeigler-Royalton

Engineering

1^st Gavin Johnson of Webber

2^nd Carter Maloney of Christopher

3^rd Emi Caronongan of Webber and Cera Wilson of Zeigler-Royalton

Math

1^st Ryker Kiselewski of Sesser-Valier

2^nd Carson Latta of Sesser-Valier and Carlie Page of Sesser-Valier

3^rd Gavin Johnson of Webber

Physics

1^st Ryker Kiselewski of Sesser-Valier

2^nd Montana Packer of Sesser-Valier

3^rd Kyle Hails of Webber and Trinitti Noto of Zeigler-Royalton

Division 700 winners

Biology

1^st Leslie Grubb of Hamilton County

2^nd Ariel Throop of Chester, Alison Venus of Chester and Brock Williams of Chester

3^rd Layne Jones of Pinckneyville and Sesley Tedeschi of Benton   

Chemistry

1^st Jaci South of Chester

2^nd Madison Mattingly of Hamilton County

3^rd Adam Wellen of Hamilton County

Computer Science

1^st Austin Stanley of Hamilton County

2^nd Nate Rains of Chester

3^rd Preston Cassuto of Benton, Alyssa Place of Chester and Cordy Stirnaman of Chester

English

1^st Camryn Parker of Hamilton County

2^nd Olivia Barclay of Benton

3^rd Kylee Vaughn of Hamilton County and Kasey Whipple of Hamilton County

Engineering

1^st Jaxon Williams of Benton

2^nd Thomas Burdel of Pinckneyville

3^rd Nate Rains of Chester

Math

1^st Seth Davenport of Hamilton County

2^nd Austin Stanley of Hamilton County and David Wagner of Pinckneyville

3^rd Madyson Darr of Benton, Reece Johnson of Benton and Mitchell Suponsic of Benton 

Physics

1^st Jacob McMahon of Hamilton County

2^nd Seth Davenport of Hamilton County

3^rd Frank Zachman of Hamilton County

Division 1500 Winners

Biology

1^st Charu Jain of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Trenton Randall of Mt. Vernon

3^rd Gabe Tisdale of Mt. Vernon

Chemistry

1^st Ben Houle of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Daniel Song of Mt. Vernon

3^rd Jason Ren of Mt. Vernon

Computer Science

1^st Nathan Launay of Mt. Vernon and Gabe Tisdale of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Brandon Hall of Mt. Vernon

English

1^st Charu Jain of Mt. Vernon and Charlie Houle of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Declan Desper of Mt. Vernon

3^rd Katie Huff of Mt. Vernon

Engineering

1^st Ben Houle of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Nathan Launay of Mt. Vernon

3^rd Cassie White of Mt. Vernon

Math

1^st Daniel Song of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Carson Wright of Mt. Vernon

3^rd Jason Ren of Mt. Vernon

Physics

1^st Brandon Hall of Mt. Vernon

2^nd Samantha Clanin of Mt. Vernon

Team winners

Division 300

1^st Sesser-Valier High School

2^nd Webber High School

3^rd Zeigler-Royalton High School

4^th Christopher High School

5^th Waltonville High School

Division 700

1^st Hamilton County High School

2^nd Chester High School

3^rd Benton High School

4^th Pinckneyville High School

Team Photos

Benton High School
Front row (left to right): Trinity Price, Jayla Soleto, Mady Darr, Sesley Tedeschi, Kiley Carter, Madi McLain, Mia McLain. Back row: Megann Nelson, Preston Cassuto, Collin Miller, Reese Johnson, Jaxon Williams, Olivia Barclay, Demi Renn, Mitch Supancic.

Chester High School
Front row (left to right): Cordy Stirnaman, Alyssa Place, Jaci South, Grace Stee, Brianna Surman, Destiny Williams, Peyton Clendenin, Madi Kribs. Middle row: Ariel Throop, Jessica Handel, Melody Colonel, Cami Schroeder, Addie Blechle, Alison Venus. Back row: Lily Koch, Zack Houghlan, Gage Bollmann, Matt Renfroe, Brock Williams, Nate Heffernan, Nate Rains.

Christopher High School
Front Row (left to right): Adalynn Davis, Shelbi Patterson, Rebecca Redding, Mackenzie Crusa, Michaela Eubanks, Jenna Janello, Catlin Freehill. Back row: Coach Brittany Hammonds, Caleb Helfrich, Madyson Newsome, Ian Behm, Jeremiah Traiteur, Ben Nichols, Carter Maloney, Anthony Rolla.

Hamilton County High School
Front Row (left to right): Madison Mattingly, Rylee Woodrow, Kasey Whipple, Madison Payne, Kylee Vaughan, Camryn Parker, Leslie Grubb. Back row: Seth Davenport, Frank Zachman, Austin Stanley, Cole McMahon, Adam Wellen, Laban Hunt, Madison Heil.

Mt. Vernon Township High School
Front row (left to right): Nathan Launay, Declan Desper, Carson Wright, Daniel Song, Katie Huff, Charu Jain, Gabe Tisdale, Samantha Clanin. Middle row: Jason Ren, Cassie White, Ben Houle, Abby White, Rebecca VanLuvender, Anna Kosierkiewicz. Back: Charlie Houle, Trenton Randall, Brady Young, Brendon Estes, Jackson Mills, Brandon Hill.

Pinckneyville High School
Front row (left to right): Kailey Lacy, Kally Mayo, Sadee Moll, Hayley Winter, Emily Restoff, Emily Ruppert, Lily Tanner, Olivia Buza. Middle row: Gabby Pasquino, Sarah Restoff, Kira Bruce, Carley Heisner, Tom Burdel, Miranda Skorch, Lauren Jackson, Aubrey Bruns. Back row: Kenzie Rushing, Megan Engelhardt, Addy Waggoner, Layne Jones, David Wagner, Sallee Collins.

Sesser-Valier High School
Front row (left to right): Audrey Gulley, Gillian Lemons, Carlie Page, Katie Galloway, Montana Packer, Reagan Basso, Emma Spence. Back row: Maura White, Carson Latta, Ryker Kiselewski, Derek Sample, Eli Schoenbaechler, Cordelia Lemms, Hudson Stubblefield.

Waltonville High School
Front row (left to right): Lydia Kash, Ella Zahm, Mikayla Robbers, Maisey Jones, Sophie Eastham, Jacey Kujawa, Elizabeth Eastham. Back row: Alexis Wood, Reagan Newell, Dawson Laczynski, Dillon Banach, C.J. Griffith, Brandon Lowery, Madeline Johnson.

Webber High School
Front row (left to right): Hannah Dejeurrett, Seth Hamerski, Samantha Schrum, Adi Caronongan, Kyle Hails, Emi Caronongan, Emma Thompson. Back row: Brittany Withrow, Savanna Halbert, Madalyn Leshy, Rebekah Marlow, Gavin Johnson, Aidan Reed, Nate Groff, Coach Cindy Birkuen.

Zeigler-Royalton High School
Front row (left to right): Trinitti Noto, Jacquelyn Walter, Addisyn Calloni, Chloe Menckowski, Gabby Dover, Kya Maier, Cera Wilson. Back row: Alora Lefler, Nathaniel Furlow, Juliana Mitchell, Cole Gelso, Kaleb Barnett, Noah Wilson, Vanessa Coogan.

Overall winners
The overall winners of the ACES competition were (left to right) Charu Jain of Mt. Vernon High School for Biology, Cole McMahon of Hamilton County High School for Physics, Austin Stanley of Hamilton County High School for Computer Fundamentals, Juliana Mitchell of Zeigler-Royalton High School for English, Vanessa Coogan of Zeigler-Royalton High School for Biology, Ben Houle of Mt. Vernon High School for Chemistry and Graphics, and Ryker Kiselewski of Sesser-Valier for Math and Physics.

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