There is an H-C-S in team
Editor’s note: This is one in a series of articles marking the 50th Anniversary of Hartselle City Schools.
An article in the March 19, 1992, issue of the Hartselle Enquirer entitled Hartselle Scholars Win Science Olympiad tells the story of Hartselle High School’s team of young science enthusiasts who emerged as the first-place winners in the regional contest held at Jacksonville State University. The team captured eight gold medals, five silver medals and three bronze medals in 18 of the 23 competition events.
The win meant the HHS students would go on to compete in the State Science Olympiad. In the newspaper picture, 14 students and three teachers smiled proudly while surrounded by medals, plaques and trophies. The team’s coaches were Catherine Ann Sims, Robin Hodges and LePage Williams all HHS science teachers.
Among the students were Sunni Jenkins Calvin who now serves as the director of medical affairs at Vertex Pharmaceutical, Nirav Vora who now serves as a Neuro-interventionalist and the director of the OhioHealth Cerebrovascular program and Aaron Trickey who is a software developer and the creator of the TimeStory app for Apple. Their early science experiences left a significant imprint on the students’ career paths.
Throughout the last 50 years, Hartselle’s students at all levels have developed skills in the classroom and then tested those skills in local, state and even national competitions including poster contests, robotics competitions, Scholar’s Bowl tournaments, career tech skill events and more. Students have been recognized for individual achievements and as part of winning academic teams.
And Hartselle’s students and teachers have received significant parent volunteer help and local merchant sponsorships in these ventures, as well. The community’s partnerships with its schools have for many years been instrumental in its success.
Hartselle alumnus Destin Sandlin, engineer and the face of the popular YouTube series Smarter Every Day, can be seen on Instagram pointing to Corum’s Building Supply and declaring, “When I was in high school I didn’t have money for a Science Olympiad project so this store in Hartselle, Alabama gave me and my buddy Stevo hardware and supplies for free. Because of them we won state (also because Stevo understood op-amps and 555 timers.) Told them thanks today.” Excelling in rigorous coursework and in competitive activities is no guarantee of success. Life is more complicated than that, and it holds surprises. But the satisfaction that comes from developing a skill paired with the confidence that comes from competing and from contributing to team efforts are part of the groundwork for success.
Not every student who attends school in Hartselle will emerge a success. In truth, not every student who is a successful student in Hartselle will emerge a successful adult. Again, life holds more surprises than that. But Hartselle City Schools and the Hartselle community take seriously their responsibility to grow as many students as they can in as many ways as they can grow them.
Perhaps there is no I in team, but there is an H-C-S.
