Physics team at Phoenixville High School headed to international competition

PHOENIXVILLE, Pa. (WPVI) -- The questions seem simple but finding the answers are never as easy as finding the problems.

"These problems don't really have definitive answers. That's our job to do - figure out why certain things happen," said Brian Tu, student.

The physics team at Phoenixville Area High School is trying to answer 17 questions as part of the International Young Physicists' Tournament.

It's like the World Cup of Physics.

Five students will travel to Thailand this summer to present their findings.

The United States hasn't been represented in the tournament since 2007.

Mr. Jennings, their teacher, found out about the competition after the organization follower him on Twitter.

"If you see an opportunity, you can try to take it and if you work hard enough, you can make it happen," said Jay Jennings, teacher.

Many of the other countries have funding and special class time for these experiments but these students are doing their work in their own free time with tools they can find.

"A lot of us, we've known each other for a while. We come and do research but it's kinda like we're hanging out," said David Coffman, student.

"Even if you're not right - I think it helps you learn more if you're wrong doing this than if you get right answers but you don't really know what you're doing," said David Nascari, student.

"Thailand isn't a hop skip and a jump. We decided that any student that qualified academically not just those who could afford it," Said Maddie Wilder, student.

And like every other problem they've encountered, they're working to find the solution for this one as well.

They started a GoFundMe page to make sure everyone could go and to pay for the experiments.

"We're a big team and we collaborate to get all the problems done," said Andrew Mangabat, student.

They have big dreams that they hope will pay off with big rewards.