EAST CHICAGO | While most of his classmates slept late and relaxed during their weeklong spring break, Jeremiah Reed spent long hours in a second-floor laboratory, comparing electron shells and charting chemical reactions.

The Central High School junior and his 14 Science Olympiad teammates used the recess for daylong practice sessions to tighten their moves for the school's first-ever appearance in the state science competition finals at Indiana University in Bloomington this weekend.

"Are we back to that 'no fun' policy?" senior Maria Duran asked Tuesday afternoon, after hours of assembling molecular models out of colored spheres and Lego blocks.

"Get back to work," said Science Coach Eric Kundich, a science teacher at West Side Junior High School and freshman boys basketball coach at Central.

Formed in 1985 to create a passion in students for science and to improve the quality of science education, the Science Olympiad organization brings schools together to compete in a variety of both applied and theoretical disciplines with a national tournament held each May in Washington, DC.

E.C. Central has fielded Science Olympiad teams since 1995, but this year is the first that the school has made the state finals.

"The team has worked really hard the past two years to get to this point," Kundich said. "They started working in September for the competition."

Events include chemistry, physics, engineering, problem-solving and the life sciences, with judges rating performances in events which range from building and playing musical instruments made from found materials to flying a rubber band-powered airplane.

Pilot Jazmin Garcia had to rebuild her balsa-and-mylar plane, which was damaged after getting stuck in a public address system speaker horn in the John A. Baratto Athletic Center at Central, the only room in the school system large enough for her to fly the craft.

"This one will be lighter and stay up even longer," said Garcia, the valedictorian of this year's senior class and Science Olympiad veteran, who has been accepted to study biology at Duke University in the fall.

Sophomores Manuel Mendoza and Laura Rosas prepared for their biology heats by preparing their own massive field guide from online databases, and by drilling for hours with the calls of various amphibians.

"The practice schedule has been rough, but we've gotten through it," Kundich said. "This is a really good team, and they deserve some recognition."