Teams of middle school students from both Eagle Hill and Wellwood competed in the Regional Science Olympiad tournament on March 8 in North Syracuse. Out of 15 total teams competing, Eagle Hill and Wellwood ended the day in first and second place overall!
Eagle Hill’s Science Olympiad team had been preparing since November.
Coach Rachel Soeder said the team traveled to an invitational practice tournament at Cornell in February to prepare. The Eagle Hill team consisted of students from grades 6-8, and two 9th graders who were on the team last year even returned to help mentor younger students.
Students from Eagle Hill secured first place medals in Air Trajectory, Anatomy & Physiology, Code Busters, Crime Busters, Disease Detectives, Dynamic Planet, Experimental Design, Fossils, Helicopter, Meteorology, Metric Mastery, Microbe Mission, Mission Possible, Optics, Reach for the Stars, Scrambler, and Write It Do It. All of those first place medals secured an overall first place win.
Wellwood came to the tournament with a young team, including two 6th grade students, but coach Fredrica Introne said everyone rose to the challenge. The team took home first place medals in Ecology, Entomology, Potions & Poisons, and Wind Power. They also won the afternoon Quiz Bowl. These accomplishments secured Wellwood a second place overall win.
“The content is all extremely advanced for this age, including and surpassing high school math and science,” explained Eagle Hill Science Olympiad Coach Rachel Soeder. “I didn’t learn much of the material until I was in college.”
Tournament events ranged from topics like engineering, which required students to build and bring a model to test, to specialized tests that required extensive studying and material preparation. A state tournament will be held in April.