Tonia Prombo, physics instructor at Perry High School, led a PHS team to Des Moines Thursday to compete in the Physics Olympics regional trials at Drake University.
Regional competition involved five areas — mousetrap cars, catapult, optical slalom, student-powered water heater and physics problems.
PHS students took third place overall, with the catapult and bridge teams capturing first place and advancing to state competition set for April 11 at the University of Northern Iowa.
The catapult team was composed of Nic Fellom and Adan Medina. Grant Eklund and Andrew Pentico built the bridge team.
The mousetrap car was designed by Dane McCarty and Christian Guardado. Eli Hernandez and Edwardo Medina engineered the soda-straw arm, and the physics challenge problem was solved by Jacob Debord and Quin Helmers.
The annual physics competition is made possible by a grant through the Heartland Area Education Agency and helps science teachers gain physics endorsements or further their professional development.
