A Rewarding 1st Science Olympiad for Pleasantville MSers

The following is from the Pleasantville Union Free School District:

In September, a group of Pleasantville Middle School students in grades 6-8 joined the newly formed Science Olympiad Club, offered by Extended Learning Coordinator Melissa Brown and volunteer coach/biochemist Dr. Martha Matteo. Team members included Guy Barzilai, Ben Baylies, Rohan Chandy, Cheryl Chen, Allegra Copland, Akimoto Cornelius, Jonathan Hayes, Melissa Jacobs, Lauren Kim, Evelyn Lee, Kayley Lewis, Megha Patel, Chloe Peters, Kyle Petersen, Natalie Riccardi, Daniel Stangarone and Conor Sweeney. 

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At weekly meetings, team members worked on science challenges that they selected from 24 New York State Science Olympiad tournament events in a number of STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) disciplines: anatomy, physics, geology, astronomy, mechanical engineering, and technology. The students then researched the information needed to solve the challenge on their own, with the help of their coaches and other STEM-savvy community volunteers.

Their hard work paid off at the regional Science Olympiad tournament, held on March 2, 2013, at Scarsdale Middle School. Sporting green t-shirts with their logo and team name (P’ville NERDS – No prior Experience, but Radical and Dangerously Smart), they racked up one first place (Heredity), two second places (Mystery Architecture and Boomilever), one third place (Mission Possible, a very complicated Rube Goldberg device), and one fourth place (Triple E, i.e., Endangered, Extirpated, and Exotic Animals) and were awarded the “First Timers” trophy.

Science Olympiad began 29 years ago as a grassroots assembly of science teachers and is now one of the premiere science competitions in the nation. Tournament events are designed to support national core science standards and encourage students to build upon and extend beyond their normal school curriculum. Visit http://newyorkscioly.org for more information.