Middle School Science Olympiad Team Earns Most Medals in Competition

Fourth, fifth, and sixth grade students completed science-related challenges during the annual event, held this year at St. Mark’s High School. “Thanks to students’, kids’, and parents' support, it was a wonderful success,” said science instructor Beth Whipple. “All students worked very hard.”

The fourth grade team, coached by John Bell and Pat Martin, included six medalists. Joshie Devane (Measurement) and Steven Wolhal (Number Puzzles) earned first place in their events. Caleb Casto and Carina Ferretti earned second for Chopper Challenge, and Carina earned another silver medal for her work with Kendall Giordano on Mystery Architecture. Katarina Swan also came in second for the Animal Planet event. Finally, Joshie and Katarina came in third place in the Egg Drop, and Joshie and Steven also earned a bronze medal for Estimation.

Beth Whipple helped prepare the fifth grade team, which consisted of students Claire Andreasen, Stephen Brown, Alex Goldman, Faith Jayaram, Matthew Kaser, Andrew Kedash,Trenton LaPoint, and Dominic Pompeii. The fifth graders took home three second-place medals and four third-place medals. Second place teams were Trenton and Matthew (Write It/Do It); Matthew (Australian Ecology); and Faith and Matthew (Barge). Third place teams were Claire and Faith (Grab-a-Gram); Alex (Measurement); Stephen, Matthew, and Andrew (Health and Fitness); and Andrew and Claire (Bridges).

Emily Egan led the sixth grade team to victory. Lia Dougherty, Lili Dougherty, Reid Farmer, Catherine Gluodenis, Lauren Hicks, Matthew Kedash, Jordan Nashed, and Mae Watson, all competed, taking home a total of three first-place medals, five third-place, and four fourth-place. First place teams were Lauren (Disease and Defense); Catherine (Measurement); and Catherine and Lauren (Straw Tower). Teams Lia and Jordan (Egg Drop); Mae (Amazon Ecology); Reid (Calculator); Matthew and Lili (Mystery Architecture); and Lia (Name that Scientist) all earned third-place recognition. Fourth place winners were Reid, Catherine, and Lauren (Light and Mirrors); Jordan (Number Puzzles); Mae and Lia (Barge); and Lauren and Lia (Chopper Challenge).

Congratulations to the Science Olympiad students and teachers on their accomplishments!