Seventeen teams from across the state attended the Elementary Science Olympiad Tournament on Saturday, May 10, at Moorestown Friends School. One of three such tournaments in New Jersey, the regional Olympiad event took place from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. throughout the school.
MFS Team #1 took first place overall. They placed first in the Tennis Ball Catapult event, and second in Extinction is Forever, No Bones About It, and Food for Thought. Team members were: sixth graders Bailey Butterworth and Joshua Riddick, and fifth graders Richard Chichester, Aidan Connolly, Abigail Dawson, Chase Eni, Adison Fox, Cole Harvey, Lauren Kam, Chris Little, Kayla Patel, Priya Shah, and Genevieve Vanston.
Moorestown Friends School Team #2 also fared well, placing sixth overall and earning a first place finish in the Weather or Not event and a second place finish in Mystery Powders. Team members were: sixth graders Amanda Augustino and Jack Heffelfinger, and fourth graders Lauren Articolo, Lily Buchdahl, Colin Cooper, Edward Crisonino, Vani Hanamirian, Turner Jobes, William Rizor-Mossgrove, Henry Roseman, Haroun Shah, Elliot Smith, and Otis Thomson.
There were 16 events in total, including those testing knowledge of insects, robotics, food groups, and physics. Placing second was Haddonfield Elementary School, followed by Baytul-Iman Academy.
Science Olympiad is a national nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. These goals are accomplished through classroom activities, research, training workshops, and the encouragement of intramural, district, regional, state and national tournaments. Science Olympiad tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of individual and team events.