Some of the organizing committee, including faculty member Megan Daschbach
Students tested their chemistry knowledge in three individual exams, a team round, and a fast-paced relay round. Top-scorers in each round and overall received awards at the award ceremony at the end of the day.
Intensity in the cooperative round (at least we hope so)
The overall winners (a calculated evaluation across all five events) placed Carmel High School Team 1 in first place, Park Tudor School in second place, Carmel High School Team 2 in third place, Clayton High School in fourth place, and Libertyville High School Team 2 in fifth place.
Libertyville HS team and coach pretty pleased with 5th place overall
The tournament was organized by a group of 26 undergraduate students working in committees throughout the school year. Abhishek Sethi and Harshath Gupta were the co-directors. On competition day, there were approximately 100 volunteers that proctored exam rooms, set up breakfast and lunch, graded exams, guided teams, and helped out in any way they could.
WUCT aims to create an atmosphere that emphasizes modern-day issues in science and focuses on fundamental problem-solving and teamwork skills that are crucial for success in the professional world. Future exam topics will include biological and industrial applications of chemistry. More information about the competition and updates about next year’s competition may be found on the official website: wuct.wustl.edu. Any questions regarding the tournament may be directed to WUCT co-founders/directors Harshath Gupta and Abhishek Sethi at WUCT@su.wustl.edu.
Abishek Sethi (l) and Harshath Gupta (r)
Guest authors: Harshath Gupta and Abhishek Sethi
Harshath is from Davie, FL, and studies chemistry and astrophysics at Washington University in St. Louis, class of 2018. He is aspiring to become an oncologist and science communicator. Abhishek is from Naperville, IL, and studies chemistry at Washington University in St. Louis, class of 2018. He is excited to delve into academic medicine as a career, teaching and specializing in surgery.
We created WUCT in an effort to expose students interested to the types of problem-solving and collaborative skills crucial in careers in STEM. We aim to increase the number of opportunities for students interested in chemistry to apply their skills from the classroom to a new, challenging environment.
“Computers and the physics of complex biological systems”
Congratulations on an outstanding event! Your perseverance and dedication to making this a success were obvious throughout the planning process. Look forward to seeing this program grow in the future. The St. Louis ACS is proud to support you!
A good recruiting tool for Wash. U.
Glad to hear about the success of this new competition for our high school chemistry students!