Another Great Year for West’s Science Olympiad Team!

The Science Olympiad Regional competition took place on Saturday, February 23^rd, with West’s three teams enjoying a fast-paced day of events! Albeit not qualifying for states, the day was still pretty successful and enjoyable for all who attended.

The year as a whole has been pretty crazy for the club and its members. With the unprecedented weather we had fewer meetings than usual, and the competition itself was eventually postponed due to Nemo. After months of setback after setback, it was a determined 36 members at Ward Melville High School that morning, along with advisers Mr. Caligiuri, Mr. Aptowitz, Mr. Mirchel, and Mrs. Kann. The competition itself is basically a series of events that pairs of members from each team compete in to potentially place the highest in the county. These events cover subjects in Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Earth Science, and other miscellaneous topics, in the form of tests, lab activities, or building events.

In between events, the team members had time to hang out together at West’s assigned “homeroom” tables. This is always something enjoyed by the team, and they all had a lot to share about their overall experience. Junior Alfred Shim said, “The Science Olympiad competition was very exciting as a first time competitor! I thought that the experience was going to be a drag but competing on the High School West team is a great honor that I would love to do next year as well. To get 7th in Chem Lab with Bailey Liao was a little upsetting but I think that it’ll be a great motivational tool for next year. I’m look forward to crushing our competitors in my last year as a Science Olympiad member next year!” Sophomore Eric Sabshon agreed, adding: “Science Olympiad is the best club in school. This is my second year doing it, and the competition is always fun. I met a lot of great people as well as increased my knowledge in Anatomy and Physiology. Looking forward to doing it next year!” Senior Dean Fulgoni also shared, “The competition was actually a lot of fun. The events really allow students to show their true potential, which is often (unfortunately) not seen in the classroom. I joined the team a week before the competition to replace a friend, but I have to say I’m sorry I wasn’t part of this community for the entirety of my high school career.”

After a long day of competing in events, the remaining members stayed for the award ceremony, in which the top 6 teams in each event received medals for their excellent work. Congratulations to the 8 people who medaled, along with everyone else who had high placements:

~Rohan Savargaonkar and Sandhiya Kannan: 1st in Chem Lab
~Andrea Ramsay and Rose Bender: 3rd in Designer Genes
~Sanjay Jonnavithula and Dean Fulgoni: 4th in Fermi
~Jake DiCicco and Max Lee: 6th in Circuit Lab
~Bailey Liao and Alfred Shim: 7th in Chem Lab
~Jake DiCicco and Mateo Mezic: 9th in Mat Sci
~Tyler Cowan and Matt Sferrazza: 9th in Remote Sensing
~Arthur Sarkisyan and Matt Sferrazza: 10th in Astronomy
~Matt Bielskas and Jake DiCicco: 11th in Geo Mapping
~Sanjay Jonnavithula and Rohan Savargaonkar: 11th in Mat Sci
~Eric Sabshon and Peter Rogu: 12th in Anatomy
~Ananth Nagaraj and Peter Rogu: 13th in Mag Lev
~Sanjay Jonnavithula and Sandhiya Kannan: 13th in Thermo
~Ariana Rahgozar and Sandhiya Kannan: 13th in Write-It-Do-It
~Ananth Nagaraj and Harris Durkovic: 15th in Write-It-Do-It
~Dean Fulgoni and Sandhiya Kannan: 17th in Circuit Lab

Vice President Sanjay Jonnavithula, a senior, summed up this year’s achievements: “I certainly felt like Science Olympiad this year was a lot better than previous years. Although our overall standing was similar, we managed to accumulate 8 medals between our 3 teams, which is a definitely an impressive achievement.” Another successful year under its belt, the club continues to grow in prestige, inspiring students to enjoy science.