Bryan Middle School Science Olympiad Team Earns Spot in State Tournament

By KATHY MILLER

The Bryan Middle School Science Olympiad team placed fifth in the March 8 regional competition at the College of DuPage earning a bid to the state tournament at the U of I Champaign-Urbana on April 12.

This is the second year in a row that Bryan’s Science Olympiad team has advanced to the state tournament.

The team is coached by Bryan Middle School teacher Sarah Samp.  

The team met weekly since October to prepare for the tournament.  In addition, a group of parents met with students at night and on weekends to support and coach the team in their events.

The 15 member varsity Bryan team earned medals in 12 Science Olympiad events:

• 2nd place - Disease Detectives - Neil Wary and Kyra Stanton
• 3rd place - Dynamic Planet - Peter and Grant Hartlage
• 5th place – Entomology - Grant Hartlage and Sonali Kumar
• 1st place Road Scholar - Neil Wary and Nathan Moskal
• 1st place Rocks and Minerals - Charles Miller and Eric Doberstein
• 4th place Shock Value - Mollie Grasse and Brennan Sanders
• 5th place Simple Machines - Matthew Taylor and Sonali Kumar
• 3rd place Solar System - Eric Doberstein and Anshul Shah
• 3rd place Boomilever - Charles Miller and Brennan Sanders
• 2nd place Helicopters - Eric Doberstein and Kyra Stanton
• 4th place Sounds of Music - Anita Wary and Grant Hartlage
• 2nd place Wheeled Vehicle - Nathan Moskal and Sonali Kumar

Additional varsity team members are Simon David and Christian Glosner.

Bryan was also represented by a junior varsity team of 14 at the COD regional.  This team earned medals in 16 Science Olympiad events:

• 4th place Anatomy - Connor Markuson and Annie Grasse
• 4th place Can’t Judge a Powder - Emily Stott and Maya Wlodarczyk
• 2nd place Crime Busters - Annie Grasse and Maya Wlodarczyk
• 3rd place Disease Detectives - Kaylen Doyle and Alexander Boskov
• 3rd place Dynamic Planet - Natalie Hradil and Karlene Stanton
• 2nd place Entomology - Manu Mehta and Alexander Boskov
• 4th place Heredity - Annie Grasse and Connor Markuson
• 1st place Meteorology - Jacob Wit and Justin Zellinger
• 3rd place Metric Mastery - Alexander Boskov and Karlene Stanton
• 4th place Road Scholar - Kaylen Doyle and Alexander Boskov
• 3rd place Rocks and Minerals - Natalie Hradil and Kaylen Doyle
• 1st place Simple Machines - Jacob Wit and Joseph Black
• 2nd place Write it/Do it - Joseph Black and Kevin Mikos
• 4th place Boomilever - Connor Markuson and Emily Stott
• 3rd place Helicopters - Will Phillips and Manu Mehta
• 3rd place Wheeled Vehicle - Joseph Black and Jacob Wit

Science Olympiad is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing students’ interest in science, creating a technologically literate workforce, and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by students and teachers.