Phoenixville Physics Team to Represent the United States

A 5-member team from Phoenixville High School will be headed to the Physics World Cup in Thailand this summer where they will compete against more than 30 other teams from around the globe. They will be the only team from the United States to be participating.

Their physics teacher, Jay Jennings, received the invitation for his students to attend the Physics World Cup after he tweeted a physics joke on the social media platform Twitter. Jennings then selected 5 members of the Phoenixville Physics Club who are all interested in pursuing science and math-based careers to make up their team.

Notably, the United States has not participated in the competition for 8 years as a U.S. competition was created instead. Jennings believes that it is important for the United States to interact with other countries in order to advance scientific causes and he hopes that their participation this year will get the U.S. involved in the Physics World Cup again for years to come.

Currently MIT and the University of the Sciences – as well as Ursinus College – are working to help the high school students prepare. Much of the competition in Thailand will revolve around “physics fights” in which teams will debate and explain their work in front of judges. The Phoenixville students are doing practice “fights” with people from the University of the Sciences to help prepare.

Currently the team is still in need of funding help for their trip, but got a boost from the local Kiwanis Club that donated $2,000. If you would like to help fund their educational trip as they represent the U.S., and learn more about the team’s progress, then simply click here.