In the Fermi Quiz, the team made up of Himmut Chatha, Victoria Harvill, Audrey Beahm, and Jasmine Meza placed first. The Fermi Quiz required students to answer 30 “order-of-magnitude” questions in 30 minutes. No calculators were permitted. One sample quiz question was, “How many cartwheels can you do from Bakersfield to Los Angeles?”
Students on the winning team for the Laser Shoot were Gabriel Guerrero, Braden Pahoulis, and Nicholas Martin. The Laser Shoot competition required students to direct a laser beam through a semi-circular dish filled with water, reflect it from a plane mirror, and attempt to hit a stationary target.
The Paper Airplane competition winning team members were Victor Peel, Frank Provensal, Blake Matejka, and Rodrigo Flores. The competition was to see who could construct and launch three paper airplanes down a runway and earn the most points.The students had only five minutes to fold the planes.
The Toothpick Spanner team members were Andee Jacobson, Mia Phillips, and Nandini Kamboj. The students had to build a span using toothpicks and glue to support the greatest weight.
Physics teacher Tom Johnson said of the day’s competition, “Our students did very well and demonstrated their understanding of physics during the competition. This was the first Physics Olympics since 2019 and 32nd overall dating back to 1987.”