Crouched behind the starting line, Sophomore Nick Loewrigkeit held his newest contraption–a car made out of rubber bands and paper towel rolls–but would he win the race?

This past Saturday, January 21, Wayne Hills hosted the annual NJAAPT North/Central Jersey Physics Olympics for the first time ever. 34 teams from 17 schools competed in six different events based on physics concepts and principles.

Ms. Sherger, AP Physics teacher and engineer club advisor, worked hard to organize the entire event, and it paid off. “The event went very well and I received a lot of positive feedback from the other schools,” she said.

The Wayne Hills Engineering Club produced two teams of six to represent. President Nick Pepple and Vice President Jordan Praissman were equally confident and excited about this competition.

“It’s a super cool experience,” said Nick. “I think our team has the best passion and brains.”

However, winning is not easy. Participants walk into the competitions without much prior knowledge or preparation, are provided with materials, and are told to make them work and create something awesome. Each team was then scaled on a rubric.

The different competitions were as followed:

• Bernoulli Ball
• Grab Bag
• Fermi Questions
• Zero Impact Vehicle
• Laser Target Shoot
• Egg Throw

Wayne Hills Senior Nadir Ghani was very confident in his team and excited about the competition. “We came in here with a winning mindset, and that’s what we did. The Lion’s Mindset,” he said.

Sophomore Nick Loewrigkeit was proud of his own design of a self-propelled car with rubber bands.

Wayne Hills won two trophies: second place overall and first place in the Bernoulli Ball competition. Another fun and successful day for Wayne Hills.