Shady Side Academy Middle School students in sixth and seventh grade earned top honors in the 2020-2021 National Science League (NSL) competition.

The seventh grade team of Ethan Chen (1st at SSA), Samraj Delfyett, Alex Mai, Annika Sandholm, Samantha Larkin, Regan Mulderig, Maya Agarwal, Sam Davidheiser, Mateo Maiz, Evan Xiang and Sophia Vrcic earned first place in the nation in the NSL Life Science Contest. Individually, Ethan Chen earned first place in the nation, and Samarj Delfvett and Alex Mai tied for third place.

The sixth grade team of Hanna Singhi and Andrew Xing (tied for 1st at SSA), plus Chloe Wang, Paolo Scolieri, Ethan Jiang, Ria Sehgal, Kiran Thompson, Omar Awais, Charlie McChesney and Helena Khalil placed second in the nation in the NSL General Science Contest.

Each year, SSA Middle School students participate in the NSL contest. Sixth graders compete in the General Science Contest, seventh graders in the Life Science Contest. Each contest consists of 40-50 questions, and students have 35 minutes to complete it. The school sends scores of the top 10 students in each grade to the national competition, and their combined scores determine the overall place for each grade.

The National Science League is part of the Continental Mathematics League program, founded in 1980 for public and private schools.

Congratulations to the student teams and to their science teachers, Matt Brunner (sixth grade) and Bonnie Maxwell (seventh grade)!

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