Science Olympiad wins regional competition

Congratulations to team captains Adam Wang '24, Claire Gilliam '24, Henry Wykoff '24, and Eliza Nichols '25 as well as team members Ruchika Ramachandran '27, Eva Choe '26, Lin Zheng '26, Robiya Sahibnazarova '24, Jessica Penilton '24, Emily Law '24, Maya Guha '24, Eleanor Molvig '25, Caroline Keiper '25, Amelie Soslow '25, Erin Ilagan '26, Madeline Wiseman '27, Ethan Lu '27, Zahra Ansari '27, Anne Dervan, Collin Chan '25, Daniel Guo '25 Elizabeth Crane '27, Daniel Law '27, Henry Wykoff '24 (team leader) Collin Chan '25, Madeline Wiseman '27, and Izzy Aulino '24. The team will compete at the state competition on Saturday, April 6.
By Anne Dervan, HS Science Teacher

I was sitting behind a row of students in the auditorium at Tennessee State University after a long day of Science Olympiad competition when a team member received the news that the USN Mock Trial team had won the District Championship. It had beaten Montgomery Bell Academy.  All the students' heads snapped my way, and in an unnerving chorus I heard, "We want to beat MBA, too."

It would take about an hour for the results to trickle in. The Regional Director of Science Olympiad would call the results for each of the 23 events in both the middle school and high school divisions. USN students spent the hour hopping up to cross the stage and collect medals, while other team members manned the text chain to share the results with team members who could not stay for the awards.
 
As the first, second, and third place awards for both our garnet team, our more experienced team, and the blue team continued, the students with me began to wonder if a first place finish at regionals was possible.  

After the event announcements concluded, we knew it was close, yet no one near me was confident that the USN garnet team had received a higher average placement than the MBA team.  There were several events in which USN placed first and second.  Having two strong teams in several events had given us an edge, but we did not know if it would be enough.  

As we waited, more than one USN student said, "This is nerve-wracking." I think that I actually saw some nail-biting, and then it was announced: Second place was awarded to MBA, and USN had won regionals. The team will now travel to UT-Knoxville for the state competition on Saturday, April 6.

Team captains are Adam Wang '24, Claire Gilliam '24, Henry Wykoff '24, and Eliza Nichols '25. The rest of the team includes Ruchika Ramachandran '27, Eva Choe '26, Lin Zheng '26, Robiya Sahibnazarova '24, Jessica Penilton '24, Emily Law '24, Maya Guha '24, Eleanor Molvig '25, Caroline Keiper '25, Amelie Soslow '25, Erin Ilagan '26, Madeline Wiseman '27, Ethan Lu '27, Zahra Ansari '27, Anne Dervan, Collin Chan '25, Daniel Guo '25 Elizabeth Crane '27, Daniel Law '27, Henry Wykoff '24 (team leader) Collin Chan '25, Madeline Wiseman '27, and Izzy Aulino '24.  

Finally, a special thank you goes to the science faculty members who were peppered with Science Olympiad questions and requests. Thank you for your support of this team as we prepared for regionals.
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