Lynn English students scientists at heart

Marblehead – Lab coats, team T-shirts and elaborate handmade instruments would be intimidating for some high school science teams new to the North Shore Science League, but not Lynn English students.As they huddled around a cafeteria table at Marblehead High School on Tuesday afternoon awaiting the start of the league’s bimonthly competition, the dozen or so Lynn English students laughed and joked with each other, hardly noticing the other teams.”I’m wicked excited,” said senior Larissa Azevedo.They have good reason to be confident. In its first year ever, the Lynn English Science Team has performed well in two area competitions this fall, placing them above more than half of the other 30 high school teams in the league.This afternoon, they were ready to showcase a large instrument they made out of pvc pipes, beat other students in identifying New England tree specimens and explain how atoms form in a quiz on quantum physics.The North Shore Science League hosts six competitions each year at area high schools, inviting its member teams to compete in various science-related quizzes and projects. In his first year as a Lynn English physics teacher, Jeff Bigler encouraged about 15 of his students to form a science team and join the league.For Azevedo, joining the team opened up a passion for science she didn’t know she had.”Science is just fun,” she said. “I feel like I can just be myself.”Azevedo, who is a member of several clubs at Lynn English, was quick to correct anyone who called the science team a club, saying these competitions are like a sport.Azevedo and her team members are also proud of the team’s performance so far. Azevedo said Lynn schools are often stereotyped as academically poor , but she and her team are proving everyone wrong.”We want to show everyone we’re a force to be reckoned with,” she said.Bigler agreed. He has coached several science teams in the region, but he said teaching in Lynn has been one of his favorite experiences.”We have smart kids just like every other town,” he said.And the students that make up the science team at Lynn English are no exception.From science, he said, they learn how to approach problems and learn something about themselves.”The more people understand how the world works, the easier they can figure out what they want to do,” he said.