Twelve CHS students will compete in the Washington University in St. Louis Chemistry Tournament (WUCT) on April 2. According to Dr. Jianping Huang, competition sponsor and senior chemist at Eli Lilly, WUCT is a new annual high school tournament run by Washington University undergraduate students.

“The tournament is the only one on the national level for high school students in the U.S. Students from across the United States will participate in a series of chemistry exams at Washington in St. Louis and be recognized for their work in an award ceremony,” Huang said via email.

The tournament focuses on building an interest and fostering an appreciation for chemistry among high school students, Huang said.

“By taking part in WUCT, high school students can apply their classroom knowledge to a fun, competitive tournament, emphasizing fundamental problem-solving and teamwork skills, which are crucial for success,” he said.

Huang said WUCT is different from any of the other chemistry competitions in which students have participated because it directly invites the best high school students across the nation to compete, which allows the tournament to represent the highest level of competition.

According to Huang, WUCT’s exam format is also very different. The competition includes an individual exam, a team round and a relay round.

Huang said for individual rounds, all students will take three exams that consist of three open-response questions. After individual exams are over, six students are chosen from each school to collaborate and solve questions on a variety of chemistry topics.

The competition ends with a relay round during which each team will be broken up into three  groups of two students. Each group will be handed one part of a question and each small group will need the answer from the previous pair to answer its part, according to Huang. The third group will submit the final  answer and the teams will be graded for speed and accuracy.

Anderson David, WUCT participant and sophomore said the uniqueness of this competition interests him.

“I had taken a chemistry class outside of school and I thought I have never really gotten a chance to show how much I know outside of the classroom. So, I thought it was a good way to get involved and do something I never really tried before,” David said.

David, a student of Huang, said he has been preparing for the competition through Huang’s classes every Friday.

Like David, Cindy Lee, WUCT participant and junior said she is looking forward to the originality of the competition.

“For me personally, I’ve never actually competed outside of Indiana, so hopefully the competition will have a more challenging aspect,” Lee said.

“I’m excited to (show) how much I know and working with the team,” David said. “I’ve gotten to know the team for the past two years, and I know this is a really good group of people and hopefully we do really well.”