The Lincoln Log

Competitors were tested on their social support and blood pressure in the fourth round of Health Idol. Students and faculty members came to the Wellness Center for three days to show their support by voting for who they believe should win the title of Health Idol. Senior Winfield Ye won this challenge with 86 of the 307 votes, and freshman Sandy Lee took second, followed by English teacher Sara Falls.

Junior Rebecca Choi had the healthiest blood pressure. Her blood pressure may have been the most outstanding, but even so the other contestants landed in the healthy range as well. In the end, sophomores Jack Luong and Aaron Mott were eliminated; leaving no more sophomores in the competition.

As the fifth round began, students faced a dexterity and responsibility challenge. Their dexterities were tested by throwing a ball into a plastic bin. They were allowed 12 shots and were challenged to score the highest possible. For the responsibility challenge, student’s grade point averages were reviewed, while teachers were given grades by other faculty members and students.

The dexterity test led to a three-way tie between Choi, Ye, and faculty member Jennifer Kenny-Baum, who each landed six baskets. Since they were all returning contestants, their scores were averaged with their scores from previous years. In the end, Ye won the challenge. The record for this challenge still belongs to teacher Hugh Stickney, who scored 11 out of 12 two years ago.

Lee took the responsibility challenge with a 4.0 GPA. She was followed by Kenny-Baum, Falls, and Choi. This was major improvement for Choi, because she raised her GPA by one whole point relative to last year.

In the end, juniors Andrew Chiu and Steven Flynn were eliminated from the competitions. Rounding out the top ten competitors are all four faculty members, Jen Kenny-Baum, Sara Falls, Andy Talaroski, Bob Owens, seniors Greg Jew, Winfield Ye, and Alex Mogannam, and juniors Rebecca Choi and Crystal Chang.

None of the teachers have received a health warning so far in the competition.

“[The teachers] are all very active,” Falls said. “I’m not surprised… I think that in order to be a teacher you have to have a certain amount of stamina, you have to have an outlet for your physical energy, you have to be healthy because there’s so much of an emotional and physical demand [as a teacher].”

In round six the remaining contestants are to hold a special pose while maintaining balance and then take a visual/ spatial test. In round seven, they will run a mile and take a memory test.