Churchill Students Win State Science Olympiad, Nationals Next

Carmichael Patch Whiz Kids:

Names:  Rohan Konnor, Jasper Mivra, Luke Perkins, Callie Kernick, Gina Wu, Kate Burt, Katherine Lee, Marcello Chang, Arvind Sundararajan, Kiran Long-Iyer, Uma Desai, Vivian Yang, Sonali Gupta, Manu Prakasam, Shilpa Nair, Sofia Decio, Niagara Pal, Allyson Porter, Ruiqui Mao and Kaitlyn Liu.

School: 

Accomplishment: Students in the Churchill Science Olympiad team won the state competition April 9 in Fresno and leave Wednesday for the national competition in Madison, Wisc.

Key to Awesomeness: The Churchill team is making its first trip to nationals in 15 years, said Jeff Jungk, a Churchill teacher who coaches the team along with Robert Sherriff. The school had come in second place in the state meet the past three years.

"It's huge for us," said student Callie Kernick. "I've been on the team for four years and it's really amazing."

At nationals, about 60 schools will be competing. Churchill students say they're hoping to make their school community proud.

"Going to nationals has been exciting for our school," said Rohan Konnor.

Students typically prepare for the Science Olympiad from November to March each year. They come in most days after school and on weekends, Sherriff said.

"Some have been working for four years and they've been dedicated so this (success) is because of their love of science," he said. "I look at them and think 'these are our future engineers."

Local companies have made donations to help send the students and their equipment to Wisconsin but donations can still be made by contacting the school office at 971-7324.