Science Olympiad Students Earn Medals at Regional Competition
A group of 17 Bronxville Middle School students participated in the Science Olympiad Lower Hudson Regional Tournament at Scarsdale Middle School on March 2. They competed against students from across the region and earned medals in several events. A total of 32 teams competed in 20 different building and study events.
Jean Windels, a science teacher, and the team’s adviser, said her students have been preparing for the competition since October, building elastic-powered cars, balsa wood towers, ping pong ball launchers and a balsa wood plane.
In the category of the car, which was powered by rubber bands released with a trigger and required to travel a specific distance as fast as possible, Lucas Gonzalez-Asturias earned third place; Ariel Agrawal earned sixth place; and Caroline Rooney and Ines Hanjis earned 10th place.
Max Gilmer and Anders Widen earned third place in air trajectory for their ping pong ball launcher. They built a device which launched a ping pong ball using air power from a soda bottle.
Zoe Hamerling and Adele Zichello earned seventh place in ecology, which was a study event consisting of concepts related to the interaction of living and nonliving things.
Zeke and Hunter Malpass earned sixth place in fast facts, during which they were tasked with naming concepts within specific categories that began with certain letters of the alphabet.
Windels said the Science Olympiad allows students to participate in STEM activities without much pressure. They have the freedom to choose the events they’d like to compete in and throughout the process, they learn to solve problems, persevere, work with new tools and learn new concepts.