Students shine at MTU Bioathlon

IRONWOOD — Four Ironwood freshmen competed at the 25th annual Michigan Technological University Bioathlon recently in Houghton, and came home with a second place finish.

Sixteen teams from across the Upper Peninsula competed in the event, including Bessemer, Houghton, L’Anse, Negaunee and Calumet.

In order to participate, students cannot be beyond sophomore-level biology, but some teams consist of older students, including juniors and seniors.

“For this very young team, it’s a great accomplishment to beat some older teams,” teacher Paul Mattson said. “They are on their own in this event, and it’s all about how well they’re prepared. They did a great job.”

Team members included Leah Braucher, Maggie Meyer, Corissa Mattson and Kathleen Mieloszyk.

The event was split into four parts, with each of the four students taking a lead. Challenges included a urine analysis under medical laboratory analysis, determining five types of bacteria under microbiology, a scientific “scavenger hunt” with items listed under their scientific names for students to find and the dissection of an animal.

According to Braucher, the dissection didn’t go as planned for Ironwood.

“We were dissecting a turtle and it was a dysfunctional turtle,” Braucher said. “The shell was supposed to be broken all the way, and it wasn’t. So when we broke it, all of the groups stopped what they were going and looked at us. Then it didn’t have enough fluid injected into it, so we could see the veins to check the arteries.

“But we pulled it off.”

Mieloszyk said the event was a “great hands-on experience.” According to Meyer, a lot of research went into it before the students attended the event.

“I want to go back,” Braucher said.

Because of the team requirements, the students are not eligible to compete again next year, but Mattson said he sees the benefit to rotating students.

“It’s nice that four kids get the opportunity each year to attend this event,” Mattson said. “It gives other students a chance.”

The team said it would recommend other students participating in the bioathlon in the future.

“I am so proud of this group,” Mattson said. “They worked so hard and they wanted to do well. I thought they were going to win, because we were so positive. They did a great job.”