Jacksonville – MacMurray College chemistry professor, Dr. Nadine Szczepanksi, helped bring home the bronze and silver again this year at the 36th International Chemistry Olympiad.

     Dr. Szczepanski was one of three mentors who participated along with 20 students from around the United States at the U.S. Air Force Academy in Colorado.

     Approximately 10,000 U.S. high school students competed in the first round of testing to earn a spot on the US National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) team. 1,000 were invited to take the second round of tests. From those 1,000, twenty students were invited to attend the USNCO study camp in Colorado Springs in June.

     Dr. Szczepanski was head mentor for the team this year. They spent two weeks at camp attending lectures, working in the lab and studying college-level organic chemistry. At the end of camp, four students were selected to represent the US at the International Chemistry Olympiad, which was held in Taiwan in July. They were Allen Chang of Arcadia High School, Arcadia, CA; Scott Rabin of Miami Palmetto Senior High School, Miami, FL; Jacob Sanders of the Academy for the Advancement of Science and Technology, River Edge, New Jersey; and Nicholas Sofroniew of Harvard-Westlake High School, Los Angeles, CA.

     The best high school students from 60 countries attended the competition. The students took a five-hour test and did a five-hour lab which focused on both theoretical and practical chemistry. They also had free time to meet with the students from around the world and to see the sites of Taiwan.

    Three of the American students won silver medals and one of them won a bronze medal. (Picture above, left to right: Dr. Nadine Szczepanski; Scott Rabin, from Miami, FL; Allen Chang, from Los Angeles, CA; Jacob Sanders from New Jersey; Nicholas Sofroniew, from Los Angeles, CA and Roxie Allen [mentor], from Houston, TX)

     Located in Jacksonville, Ill., MacMurray College is a private, four-year, liberal arts, coeducational college, founded in 1846, and affiliated with the United Methodist Church. Its friendly, informal environment stresses academic excellence, personal attention, career experience, and well-rounded development of each individual.