In 20-degree weather and piles of powdery snow, 45 young scientists trudge their way to win at Carnegie Mellon University. The Science Olympiad team attended their second national invitational of the year in Pittsburgh Jan. 18-21.
Arriving in Pittsburgh on Thursday, Jan. 18, students tweaked their builds by re-coding their robots, adding small additions to handmade airplanes and testing their wooden towers while others took practice tests on everything from chemistry to astronomy. The next day, students visited Schenley Park to sled, build snowmen and blow off some steam, before promptly returning to studying in the evening. That night, students worked on their projects tirelessly, preparing for their competitions the next day.
Finally, on competition day, students showcased their four months of hard work. At the end of Jan. 20, team one came in first place overall, and the two others followed at sixth and seventh place. “After all the rigorous practice, [team one’s] final victory made it all worth it,” senior Ty Holifield said.
Here are the individual results:
Air Trajectory:
2nd Place – Nick Diaz, 11 and Mia Lopez, 12
6th Place – Shrika Kantipudi, 12 and Hari Muhunthan, 11
Anatomy:
6th place – Kanagana Modi, 11 and Patricia Duffy, 11
Astronomy:
6th place – Vishakha Joshi, 12 and Abby Sigal, 11
Chemistry Lab:
2nd Place – Timothy Kong, 11 and Shrika Kantipudi, 12
5th Place – Vishakha Joshi, 12 and John-Paul Younes, 12
Codebusters:
3rd Place – Vid Yash (9), Arisa Porter (9) and Kyra Movva (9)
5th Place – Abby Sigal (11), Emma Pudney (11) and Ty Holifield (12)
Detector Building:
6th place – Jason Cheng, 12 and Emily Wang, 11
Disease Detectives:
4th place – Iris Fan, 11 and Jack (Zijan) Fang, 12
Dynamic Planet:
6th place – Andrew Lodin, 11 and Vishakha Joshi, 12
Ecology:
2nd place – Yana Danzig, 12 and Ishika Gadani, 10
Experimental Design:
2nd Place – Lauren Wong (12), Sharon Fernandez (12) and Gaby Kucher (10)
6th Place – Vid Yash (9), Arisa Porter (9) and Kyra Movva (9)
Forensics:
1st Place – Emily Wang, 11 and Patricia Duffy, 11
4th Place – Mia Lopez, 12 and Clara Hilsman, 11
5th Place – Doreen Li, 10 and Valerie Younes, 10
Forestry:
1st Place – Yana Danzig, 12 and Scott Shin, 11
4th Place – Rishi Guntupalli, 12 and Clara Hilsman, 11
Fossils:
1st Place – Andrew Lodin, 11 and Rishi Guntupalli, 12
4th Place – Rachel Kludy, 12 and Gaby Kucher, 10
Flight:
6th place – Hari Muhunthan, 11 and Kevin Zhang, 11
Geologic Mapping:
1st place – Andrew Lodin, 11 and Clara Hilsman, 11
Robot Tour:
3rd place – Henry Lecompte, 11 and Ethan Deng, 12
Scrambler:
4th Place – Hari Muhunthan, 11 and Kevin Zhang, 11
5th Place – Ty Holifield, 12 and Nick Diaz, 11
6th Place – Daniel Heit, 11 and Victor Jafet, 11
Tower:
1st Place – Ty Holifield, 12 and Nick Diaz, 11
5th Place – Max Whitney, 11 and Daniel Heit, 11
Wind Power:
1st Place – John-Paul Younes, 12 and Abby Sigal, 11
4th Place – Niles Alexis, 12 and Jason Cheng, 12
Senior Vishakha Joshi throws snow in the air after a 6-inch fall the night prior. She then found a snowball-forming tool buried in the snow to build up her artillery before the snowball fights ensued. (Photo/Ethan Deng)
Junior Jeeya Patel attempts to push sophomore Ishika Gadani down the snow slopes in a laundry basket, while junior Roshini Shivakumar and freshman Arisa Porter watch on the sidelines. (Photo/Ethan Deng)
Junior Emma Pudney (left), Ms. Jennifer Page (center) and junior Henry Lecompte (right) laugh on the snowy slopes of Schenley Park. (Photo/Ethan Deng)
Junior Max Whitney and sophomore Laila Rozenberg prepare their plane for the Flight event. Rozenberg and Whitney, a member of the Ninjineers Robotics team, experimented with new materials such as wooden sticks and grocery bag scraps. (Photo/Dr. Cheryl Diaz)
At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, students observed several dinosaur species they had recently studied for their event Fossils. “I really enjoyed looking at all of the fossils with (Coach) Brigitte,” senior Rachel Kludy said. “She’s super funny and so enthusiastic about everything, even events as seemingly trivial as Fossils.” (Photo/Arisa Porter)
Junior Iris Fan clutches her 4th Place medal in Disease Detectives after the award ceremony. Fan and senior Jack (Zijan) Fang worked together each night leading up to the competition, studying in the hotel lobby for hours. (Photo/Ethan Deng)
At the Carnegie Museum of Natural History, students observed several dinosaur species they had recently studied for their event Fossils. “I really enjoyed looking at all of the fossils with (Coach) Brigitte,” senior Rachel Kludy said. “She’s super funny and so enthusiastic about everything, even events as seemingly trivial as Fossils.” (Photo/Arisa Porter)
Other students spent their last day at the Pittsburgh Botanic Garden. (From left to right) sophomore Abby Kucher, junior Emily Wang, seniors Jack (Zijan) Fang, Sharon Fernandez and Mia Lopez were glad to see some greenery amidst the frosty winter. (Photo/Brigitte Hernandez)
Freshman Arisa Porter and junior Audrey Prado hug tightly to warm themselves up. From swimmingmates to science olympians, the two share their successes with each other on school trips. (Photo/Emma Pudney)
