Valwood Upper School finished third in Regional Science Olympiad

On Saturday, February 24, the Valwood Upper School Science Olympiad team competed in the regional tournament at Gordon State College. Led by four seniors, Valwood placed third out of fifteen teams and defeated crosstown rival, Lowndes High School. Of Valwood’s eighteen team members, eight were competing in their first ever high school tournament. All students won medals and/or ribbons across the 23 different events.

The individual results were as follows:

Medalists

4th place, Anatomy and Physiology – Gabby Moss and Gracyn Sanderlin
3rd place, Astronomy – Tiffany Kennedy, Gabby Moss
3rd place, Disease Detectives – Bailey Everett, Gracyn Sanderlin
2nd place, Fermi Questions – Paval Patel, Caleb Vandermark
4th place, Helicopters – Taylor Sanderlin, Karsten Smith
3rd place, Hovercraft – Pavan Patel, Will Cox
4th place, Microbe Mission – Corey White, Dylan Luong
2nd place, Mission Possible – Taylor Sanderlin, Karsten Smith
2nd place, Mousetrap Vehicle – Corey White, Gracyn Sanderlin
2nd place, Optics – Ashka Patel, Corey White
3rd place, Remote Sensing – Gabby Moss, Ashka Patel
2nd place, Rocks & Minerals – Molly Schweitzer, John Carver
2nd place, Thermodynamics – Bailey Everett, Wil Hilmer
4th place, Towers – Pavan Patel, Will Cox

Ribbon Winners

6th place, Chemistry Lab – Ashka Patel, Wil Hilmer
9th place, Dynamic Planet – Tiffany Kennedy, Will Cox
6th place, Ecology – Taylor Sanderlin, Karsten Smith
8th place, Experimental Design – Trey Henry, Maddox Wood, Vann Witherspoon
9th place, Experimental Design – Wil Hilmer, Caleb Vandermark, Dylan Luong
10th place, Fermi Questions – Trey Henry, Maddox Wood
6th place, Forensics – Bailey Everett, Tiffany Kennedy
8th place, Forensics – Vann Witherspoon, Trey Henry
9th place, Game On – Molly Schweitzer, John Carver
8th place, Herpetology – Dylan Luong, Caleb Vandermark
6th place, Materials Science – Pavan Patel, Will Cox
5th place, Write It/Do It – Taylor Sanderlin, Gabby Moss

The Science Olympiad is a nationally recognized program for enhancing science education and interest in science. It is a science competition for teams of up to 15 students competing in 23 different events over the course of the day. Gordon State College hosts a Division C regional tournament each year for high school students. They typically have 14 teams from local (and some more distant) high schools participating each year. The activities emphasize doing and applying science. The top two teams advance from region onto the state competition.