Cornerstone Students Place Second at Science Olympiad

Students from Cornerstone Elementary School in Rancho Palos Verdes placed second overall in the recent Los Angeles County Science Olympiad, beating out close to 49 other schools.

Cornerstone's students participated in the 3rd-6th Grade Division of the competition and took home the school's third second place finish in as many years, according to parent Stephen Liu.

The full day competition included such challenges as creating a capsule to protect an egg during a fall, building a tennis ball catapult and tests on students' knowledge of subjects such as astrology and ornithology (the study of birds).

"The Cornerstone parent volunteers who coached the team over the past four months are very proud of their students, not only for their high scores, but also for their wonderful teamwork," Liu wrote to Patch in an email.

According to the Science Olympiad's official website, the goal of the competition is to encourage science education and also increase student interest in the subject. The competition aims to draw a balance between knowing science facts, processes, skills and their application, the site states.

This year's team was coached by Sharona Byrnes. Students from Cornerstone Elementary who participated in this year's event include:

• John Choi
• Kapil Dheeriya
• Aiden Forsey-Smerek
• Amina Ghorob
• Nicholas Hama
• Jacob Heisler
• Lily Heisler
• Shelton Hsu
• Shivani Jain
• Laura Jankowski
• Paul Jensen
• Tony Kim
• Jerry Klerman
• Sarah Liu
• Anderson Sutandinata

Editor's Note: Each Tuesday morning, Palos Verdes Patch publishes the accomplishments or unique stories of students young and old from the Palos Verdes peninsula. If you know of a student our group who has a unique story or accomplishmentt to share, please email us at palosverdes@patch.com.