Tyra Carter and Tim Skeval
Staff Writers
The Jamesville-DeWitt High School Science Olympiad has yet again proved they mean business. The team placed third at regionals at Le Moyne College on Jan. 28 and is headed to states. States will be held at Le Moyne College on March 10 and 11.
At the competition, the club was divided into three teams: A, B and C team because there was too many students. Each team has different jobs. “I was on the B team, so I did building events such as towers and helicopters,” says junior Marie Saba who has been in the club for three years. “It’s a good learning experience and it looks good for colleges,” says Saba about why she participates in the club. Junior Somil Aggarwal thought the competition went well and likes the team aspect of the competitions. “I like the building events especially,” said Aggarwal who was on the A team.
Freshman Caleb Porter was on the B team and finished first in Ecology, fifth in Experimental Design and sixth in Micro Admission. Porter believes that since the club performed well at regionals, the success will carry over to states.
“I think it’s pretty cool we made it to states,” said senior Dan Thompson, who has participated on Science Olympiad all four years of his high school career. “You learn a lot of interesting stuff and if you put work in, there can be good results,” says Thompson about his experience. Similarly, junior Owen Farchione, who participated on the A team, believes states will be a success. “I’m excited for it, I think we can win,” says Farchione.
“We did well, (but) I think we could’ve done better,” says Science Olympiad adviser and science teacher Michael Keenan. “I think it’s a great opportunity for the kids to compete in science,” he said. Science Olympiad allows students to learn about a ton of different branches of science, which could benefit them in the future.
Technology teacher and Science Olympiad adviser Lawrence Stroh was impressed with the performance of the club members, “The kids went above my expectations based on their prep work and all the distractions tieing into the event,” says Stroh.
To prepare for states, the Science Olympiad club meets during activity period and studies for their next events with their teams.