The Shady Side Academy Middle School Science Olympiad Team placed 13th out of 60 teams in Division B (grades 6-9) at the Science Olympiad National Tournament, held May 18-19 at Colorado State University.

Nine SSA students earned medals for earning top-six finishes in six different individual events, including:

• Road Scholar - 4th Place - seventh grader Elaine Gombos and eighth grader Vanessa Han
• Thermodynamics - 4th Place - ninth graders Jason Vasko and Nick Zana
• Optics - 5th Place - eighth grader Steven Liu and ninth grader Renee Long
• Towers - 5th Place - seventh grader Daniel Kim and Liu
• Fast Facts - 6th Place - ninth grader Ishika Arora and Gombos
• Experimental Design - 6th Place - eighth grader Prayag Vemulapalli, Vasko and Zana

Other top 15 finishes included:

• Crime Busters - 7th Place - Arora and Han
• Hovercraft - 11th Place - Vasko and Zana
• Roller Coaster - 11th Place - eighth graders Isabel Brunner and Ariya Tayal
• Disease Detectives - 12th Place - ninth grader Katie Sparvero and seventh grader Miyu Yamane
• Dynamic Planet - 12th Place - eighth grader Jack Hathaway and Long
• Ecology - 13th Place - Vasko and Vemulapalli
• Solar System - 14th Place - Arora and Sparvero
• Herpetology - 15th Place - Vemulapalli and Yamane
• Meteorology - 15th Place - Arora and Tayal

This marks the 12th time the Middle School team has competed at the national tournament since 2003 and the 11th time the team has finished in the top 20 at nationals. SSA qualified for nationals by placing in the top two in the state, earning a second-place finish at the Pennsylvania Science Olympiad Tournament at Juniata College on April 28.

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

View photos from the trip: