On Friday, May 16, for physics day, students from physics, fun physics, and AP physics took a bus trip to Cedar Point in Sandusky, OH. Before Friday, students here at the high school had been preparing for the physics day trip for over a month, building their own roller coasters and completing pre-labs before it was time for everyone to go to Cedar Point.
Cedar Point is an amusement park and is the United States’ second oldest amusement park, also known as “America’s Roller Coast.” Many schools and Lakewood High School take field trips throughout the year when the park is open to Cedar Point.
“This is my 26th year, and Physics Day at Cedar Point was in place when I arrived in the fall of 1999,” fun physics teacher David Hille said.
In the morning, students met in the cafeteria, preparing to spend the next nine hours outside. As they got to school, they were required to sign in and were given back their pre-lab packets to help them if needed while they were at Cedar Point. Once they had gotten onto the bus, they were given their Cedar Point lab packet and a pink worksheet to complete before returning to the bus to head home.
“While doing the packet, I didn’t learn anything new, but I got to use what I did learn in class on it,” senior physics student Carter Candow said.
In the packet, students chose between different roller coasters like Raptor, Corkscrew, and the Gemini to put their physics math skills to work and solve for either the height of the first hill or to figure out the length of the roller coaster, and many more. On the pink sheet, students looked to see how much their heart rate increased while they rode different roller coasters.
“We have to have an educational component to Physics Day at Cedar Point for the field trip to be approved,” Hille said. “Two years ago, we scaled back our work that we expect from the students. It is designed so that students should be able to do a couple of measurements and calculate most of the packet while in line for their next ride. We don’t want kids sitting at a picnic table for hours working on it.”
The students arrived at Cedar Point around 10:30 am, which was after it opened but before most of the rides were open for people to go on. At Cedar Point, students could form groups with their friends to ride roller coasters and complete their schoolwork. While it was a lovely day outside for the students, many rides would shut down for maintenance, but that did not stop the physics kids from having fun.
“My favorite part of physics day was getting to ride the new Top Thrill 2,” Candow said.
Many physics students rode the new Top Thrill 2 for the first time and experienced going 120 mph on a roller coaster. They also watched Cedar Point test the new coaster, Sirens Curse, with the car riding through the track.
“My favorite ride I went on at Cedar Point was definitely Top Thrill 2,” physics student Sebastian Schelgunov said.
Along with riding the newest coaster, students rode other rides like Magnum XL 200 and Maverick, which reached a top speed of around 70 mph. It didn’t matter what type of rides the students were into; there was always something everyone could go on.
As students waited in long lines for their favorite rides, they worked together to complete their packets. Each student was required to turn in their own packet and paper with their name on it, but they were still allowed to work together on it all.
“The questions in the packet were not that hard, and it was easier since I had friends to do it with,” Candow said.
“The takeaway is hopefully a realization that all of the topics we covered this school year studying mechanical physics popped up several times in the Cedar Point packet,” Hille said. “It is a real-world, hands-on review of our physics topics from the school year.”
Even though students still had to do schoolwork throughout the day, the park was filled with laughter and screams from everyone.
“I didn’t like having to do the packet very much, but it was pretty easy to do,” Schelgunov said.
While enjoying rides at Cedar Point, students also got to experience all the food and the sweet treats around the park. Students Kelsey Karban, Maggie Barmen, Milena Osborne, and more all got to enjoy food from the Coaster Diner, which is located right by Corkscrew’s loops. They enjoyed onion rings, fries, chicken tenders, and more.
As students ate around the park, they continued to work on their packets, finishing them before heading back to meet up with the whole group.
“I would definitely recommend students who take physics next year to go, it was a great time,” Schelgunov said.
After being at the park for over 9 hours, all the students met up with physics teachers Mr. Hille and Mrs. Frend in front of Ocean Motion to give back all of their finished work and to sign in again to make sure that everyone was back and ready to get on the bus. Before leaving the park, all the students gathered to take a picture to remember the day they went to Cedar Point for a school field trip with their classmates.
