Shady Side Academy's Senior School and Middle School Science Olympiad teams both swept to first-place finishes in their respective divisions at the Southwest Region Pennsylvania Science Olympiad Tournament, held at California University of Pennsylvania on March 7. The Senior School team finished first out of 24 teams in Division C, while the Middle School team placed first out of 20 teams in Division B.

Thirteen Senior School students earned first-place awards in their events, and SSA placed in the top four in 20 events. The following Senior School students were recognized for their achievements:

• Amanda Zeng and Djibril Branche - 1st for Anatomy and Physiology
• Adam Bozzone and Shreya Gulati - 1st for Astronomy
• Parker Maivald and Jason Wu - 1st for Thermodynamics
• Parker Maivald and Charles Sherk - 1st for Hovercraft
• Charles Sherk and Charlie Brunner - 1st for Helicopters
• Jason Wu and Leo Liu - 1st for Materials Science
• Sonya Hammer and Djibril Branche - 1st for Microbe Mission
• Nick Sawicki and Charlie Brunner - 1st for Mousetrap Vehicle
• Charlie Brunner and Shivam Patel - 1st for Towers
• Sonya Hammer and Leo Liu - 1st for Optics
• Shivam Patel and Vishnu Gosai - 1st for Rocks and Minerals
• Sonya Hammer and Nancy Wang - 2nd for Disease Detectives
• Shreya Gulati and Adam Bozzone - 2nd for Dynamic Planet
• Djibril Branche and Lev Ivanov - 2nd for Ecology
• Nancy Wang and Jason Wu - 3rd for Chemistry Lab
• Lev Ivanov and Leo Liu - 3rd for Game On
• Nick Sawicki and Amanda Zeng - 3rd for Forensics
• Djibril Branche, Shreya Gulati, Adam Bozzone - 3rd for Experimental Design
• Nick Sawicki and Amanda Zeng - 4th for Write It Do It
• Charles Sherk and Nancy Wang - 4th for Fermi Questions

Eleven Middle School students earned first-place awards in their events, and the team placed in the top four of 21 events. The team scored 48 points with the lowest (and best) possible score being 23. The following Middle School students were recognized for their achievements:

• Ishika Arora: 1^st for Fast Facts, 1^st for Crime Busters
• Elaine Gombos: 1st for Thermodynamics, 2nd for Write It Do It, 4th for Road Scholar
• Vanessa Han: 1st for Crime Busters, 2nd for Wright Stuff
• Jack Hathaway: 1st for Rocks & Minerals, 2nd for Dynamic Planet
• Emmie Jordan: 1st for Anatomy & Physiology, 3rd for Microbe Mission
• Katie Sparvero: 1st for Disease Detectives, 1st for Rocks & Minerals; 1st for Solar System
• Ariya Tayal: 1st for Solar System, 2nd for Roller Coaster, 3rd for Meteorology
• Jason Vasko: 1st for Ecology, 1st for Experimental Design, 1st for Fast Facts, 1st for Hovercraft
• Prayag Vemulapalli: 1st for Anatomy & Physiology, 1st for Ecology, 1st for Experimental Design, 2nd for Herpetology
• Miyu Yamane: 1st for Disease Detectives, 1st for Potions & Poisons, 2nd for Wright Stuff, 3rd for Meteorology
• Nick Zana: 1st for Experimental Design, 1st for Hovercraft, 1st for Potions & Poisons, 1st for Thermodynamics
• Isabel Brunner: 2^nd for Roller Coaster, 2^nd for Write It Do It
• Daniel Kim: 2^nd for Herpetology, 2^nd for Towers
• Steven Liu: 2^nd for Optics, 2^nd for Towers
• Renee Long: 2^nd for Dynamic Planet, 2^nd for Optics, 3^rd for Microbe Mission, 4^th for Road Scholar

Both teams will compete at the Science Olympiad State Tournament at Juniata College on April 28.

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 both teams and their faculty coaches, Dr. Joe Martens, Dr. Kelly VandenBosche and Russel Grant (Senior School), and Bonnie Maxwell and John Matia (Middle School)!