The Shady Side Academy Middle and Senior School Science Olympiad Teams finished among the top teams in their division at the 2017 Pennsylvania Science Olympiad Tournament, held Saturday, April 29, at Juniata College.

The Middle School team placed second out of 36 teams in Division B (grades 6-9), marking the team's 11th straight top 3 finish. Five student teams took first place in individual events. By finishing in the top two, the MS team will advance to the Science Olympiad National Tournament at Wright State University on May 19-20. It is 11th time the MS team has qualified for nationals since 2003.

The Senior School team placed sixth out of 36 teams in Division C (grades 9-12) at the PA state tournament, marking the team's fourth consecutive top 10 finish. One student team earned a first-place finish in an individual event.

Both teams had qualified for the state tournament by winning the Southwestern Pennsylvania Regional Tournament on March 22.

The following Middle School students placed in the top 10 for their events:

• Rishi Bahri: 1^st for Bottle Rockets; 6^th for Experimental Design; 3^rd for Mission Possible; 8^th for Anatomy
• Charlie Brunner: 1^st for Bottle Rockets; 3^rd for Mission Possible; 4^th for Towers: 6^th for Meteorology
• Parker Maivald: 1^st for Hovercraft; 1^st for Invasive Species
• Katie Sparvero: 1^st for Disease Detectives; 4^th for Rocks & Minerals; 7^th for Reach for the Stars
• Jason Vasko : 1^st for Hovercraft; 5^th for Ecology; 6^th for Experimental Design
• Giri Viswanathan: 1^st for Disease Detectives; 1^st for Microbe Mission; 4^th for Rocks & Minerals; 6^th for Experimental Design
• Miyu Yamane: 1^st for Invasive Species; 2^nd for Wright Stuff; 4^th for Write It Do It
• Nick Zana: 1^st for Microbe Mission; 10^th for Wind Power
• Ishika Arora: 2^nd for Fast Facts; 3^rd for Food Science; 6^th for Meteorology; 7^th for Crime Busters; 7^th for Reach for the Stars
• Stephanie Chen: 2^nd for Fast Facts; 3^rd for Food Science; 8^th for Scrambler
• Renee Long: 2^nd for Wright Stuff; 6^th for Dynamic Planet; 10^th for Road Scholar
• Isabel Brunner: 4^th for Write It Do It; 8^th for Scrambler; 10^th for Road Scholar
• Prayag Vemulapalli: 4^th for Towers; 8^th for Anatomy
• Arjun Patel: 5^th for Ecology; 7^th for Crime Busters
• Alexander Biglan: 6^th for Dynamic Planet; 10^th for Wind Power

The Senior School team finished in the top six in 13 individual events:

• Senior Nikhil Ganjoo: 1st for Anatomy and Physiology; 3rd for Experimental Design; 4th for Materials Science
  
• Sophomore Deepa Kadidahl: 1st for Anatomy and Physiology; 6th for Invasive Species
• Sophomore Adam Bozzone: 2nd for Dynamic Planet; 5th for Astronomy
• Senior Ciaran Beckford: 2nd for Dynamic Planet
• Senior Rakesh Ravi: 2nd for Helicopters; 2nd for Rocks and Minerals; 3rd for Hovercraft; 3rd for Towers; 4th for Materials Science; 5th for Astronomy
• Junior Shivam Patel: 2nd for Helicopters; 3rd for Experimental Design; 3rd for Towers
• Sophomore Brooke Livingston: 2nd for Rocks and Minerals; 3rd for Disease Detectives
• Sophomore Nick Sawicki: 3rd for Experimental Design
• Senior Jesse Plung: 3rd for Disease Detectives; 4th for Microbe Mission
• Senior Sameer Annamraju: 3rd for Hovercraft
• Sophomore Djibril Branche: 4th for Microbe Mission
• Senior Ryan Labriola: 5th for Electric Vehicle
• Sophomore Sonya Hammer: 5th for Electric Vehicle
• Junior Jackie Kim: 6th for Invasive Species

Science Olympiad is a national nonprofit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing male, female and minority interest in science, creating a technologically-literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers. Learn more at www.soinc.org.

Congratulations to both teams and to Middle School coaches Bonnie Maxwell and John Matia and Senior School coaches Dr. Joe Martens and Kelly VandenBosche!