What began as a one-time partnership with Dulles School of Excellence, located on the Southside of Chicago, has evolved into a consistent effort to prepare Dulles students for the Science Olympiad competition.
The idea to volunteer at Dulles can be credited to New Trier science teacher Don Wurth. It all began last year at a meeting on the Northfield campus in which the faculty was discussing New Trier’s partnership with Dulles.
Although the original partnership was intended to be an annual commitment Wurth wanted a long term engagement with the students. As the former head coach for New Trier’s Science Olympiad team, Wurth decided he would volunteer at Dulles and teach the students in order to prepare them for the Science Olympiad competition.
“The thought just occurred to me on my ride to work one morning,” Wurth explained, “I thought it would be such a cool thing to do and a neat way to open up science to the kids.”
According to Wurth the process to start the program was fairly simple. “The school was very open to it and the school has a wonderful science teacher, Stacey Greenwell, who’s been fantastic. She just wants the kids to succeed and some of them come from really difficult circumstances.”
Along with coaching the students, those involved also fundraise for the cause. There are two lollipop sales a year to cover the $2,500 needed to pay for the T-shirts and equipment. Approximately 20 freshmen and 40 Winnetka students have helped to reach the fundraising goal.
Although Wurth praised the teachers and students who have become involved saying, “They’re responsible for the success and I owe them a huge debt of gratitude,” he has also made a significant impact.
Nearly every Tuesday night Wurth coaches the students on his own to help lay the groundwork. He also takes the New Trier student volunteers to Dulles on as many Saturdays as possible from December through March.
Wurth recruited the student volunteers as well. Seniors Will Deheeger and Dominic Gattuso chose to partake because they were both former students of Wurth and believed in the cause.
“A lot of these kids aren’t taught the essentials that we consider inherent to an education,” Gattuso explained, “we teach them a lot to prepare them for the events.”
Deheeger added, “It shows they have the ability to work for something so I wanted to help out as much as I could.”
After witnessing the competition, Deheeger has chosen to step up his involvement this year and assist more with the training. “It will be different from last year because I saw the end product and this time I’ll get to see their transformation.”
Dulles participated in twelve of the events and finished first or second in six of them. Despite the fact that the Dulles students were competing against some top tier private schools every participant received a medal. “They were over the top excited,” said Wurth.
One of the parents who witnessed their child receive a medal was moved to tears. “The kids realize that they have a lot of the skills to compete against the other kids, so it’s a self discovery thing for them,” explained Deheeger.
Team practice picks up again on Nov. 30 which will mark the first time the Dulles students will travel to the Northfield campus for their coaching. .
Wurth would like to expand on the success from last year by having the Dulles students participate in more events at Science Olympiad and recruit more New Trier student volunteers.
Dulles was close to closing down last year, but with their thriving Science Olympiad team they have a cause worth getting behind, and Wurth remains inspired by the student’s enthusiasm. “At the end of the day the main commonality between the students are their eagerness to improve and an innate curiosity for learning.”