On Saturday, Dec. 7, the Shady Side Academy Middle School Science Olympiad team placed fourth out of 36 teams in Division B (grades 6-9), while the Senior School team placed fifth out of 45 teams in Division C (grades 9-12) at the Northview Invitational in Sylvania, Ohio.

The following Middle School students earned top six finishes in their events:

• Navya Arora and Hari Viswanathan – Fifth for Fossils
• Michael Biglan and Joe Krokosky – Third for Ping Pong Parachute
• Ethan Chen and Smrithi Shyam – First for Food Science
• Elaine Gombos, Elliott Scheri and Hannah Song – Third for Experimental Design
• Elaine Gombos and Sophia Gombos – Third for Road Scholar
• Elaine Gombos and Sophia Gombos – Fourth for Meteorology
• Shaurya Gulati and Ethan Hou – Fifth for Dynamic Planet
• Abigail Mullin and Ariya Nahata – Third for Write It Do It
• Nichole Poltinnikov and Elliott Scheri – Fourth for Heredity

Congratulations to the team and its coaches, Bonnie Maxwell and John Matia!

The following Senior School students earned top six finishes in their events:

• Nick Zana and Parker Maivald – Detector Building
• Renee Long, Jason Vasko and Nick Zana – Experimental Design
• Jason Vasko and Andrew Liu – First in Forensics
• Parker Maivald, Renee Long and Jack Hathaway – First in Protein Modelling
• Andrew Liu and Ariya Tayal – Water Quality
• Ishika Arora and Jason Vasko – Sounds of Music
• Charlie Brunner and Isabel Brunner – Write It, Do It

Congratulations to the team and its coaches, Dr. Joe Martens and Dr. Kelly VandenBosche!

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.