On Wednesday, March 1, the Shady Side Academy Middle School Science Olympiad Team finished first out of seven teams in Division B (grades 6-9), while the SSA Senior School team placed second out of seven teams in Division C (grades 9-12) at the Pennsylvania Southwest Regional Tournament, held at PennWest University.
SSA Middle School student teams placed in the top three in all 23 events and earned 19 first-place medals. Senior School teams earned top three finishes in eight events, including three first-place finishes.
The following Middle School students received awards in their events:
- Alex Bi and Evan Xiang: 1st place for Anatomy & Physiology
- Anna Ching and Anna Litster: 1st place for Bridge
- Ethan Chen and Thomas Wang: 1st place for Can’t Judge a Powder
- Ethan Chen, Allison Guan and Andrew Xing: 1st place for Codebusters
- Ethan Chen and Anna Grace Shultz: 1st place for Disease Detectives
- Alex Bi and Hanna Singhi: 1st place for Dynamic Planet
- Allison Guan, Hanna Singhi and Evan Xiang: 1st place for Experimental Design
- Evan Chen and Andrew Xing: 1st place for Fast Facts
- Evan Chen and Allison Guan: 1st place for Flight
- Claudia Iannetti and Anna Grace Shultz: 1st place for Forestry
- Evan Chen and Evan Xiang: 1st place for Meteorology
- Vivan Poddar and Anna Grace Shultz: 1st place for Road Scholar
- Claudia Iannetti and Hanna Signhi: 1st place for Rocks & Minerals
- Allison Guan and Evan Xiang: 1st place for Roller Coaster
- Max Shaffer and Andrew Xing: 1st place for Solar System
- Vivan Poddar and Thomas Wang: 1st place for Sounds of Music
- Hanna Singhi and Evan Xiang: 1st place for Storm the Castle
- Ellie Laman and Anna Litster: 1st place for Wheeled Vehicle
- Alex Bi and Vivan Poddar: 2nd place for Crave the Wave
- Ellie Laman and Hanna Singhi: 2nd place for Write It Do It
- Anna Ching and Anna Litster: 2nd place for Green Generation
- Ellie Laman and Anna Litster: 3rd place for Bio Process Lab
The following Senior School students received medals in their events:
- Jinyi Guo and Gabby Jarvis: 1st Place for Cell Biology
- Elaine Gombos and Ethan Hou: 1st Place for Flight
- Ethan Hou and Rohan Shrishrimal: 1st Place for Scramble
- Anya Jain and Elaine Gombos: 2nd Place for Disease Detective
- Henry Fried and Rohan Shrishrimal: 2nd Place for Dynamic Planet
- Zach Kamenov and Neyla Hinedi: 3rd Place for Detector Building
- Rohan Shrishrimal and Sambodh Sinha: 3rd Place for Environmental Chemistry
- Elaine Gombos, Ethan Hou and Monica Singh: 3rd Place for Experimental Design
- Smrithi Shyam and Shaurya Gulati: 4th Place for Forensics
- Monica Singh and Zoey Miller: 4th Place for Forestry
The Pennsylvania Science Olympiad State Tournament will be held on April 22 at Penn State Altoona.
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.
Congratulations to the teams and their coaches, Middle School science teachers Bonnie Maxwell, Matt Brunner and Paul Waked, as well as Chris Erler, and Senior School science teachers Joseph Martens, Russell Grant and Jill Schumacher.