Creating a model roller coaster, building a model plane, and designing a model bridge were just some of the tasks that Western Wayne Middle school students faced at the Science Olympiad Northeast Regional Tournament on Friday, March 9, at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Campus.
Due to weather conditions, Western Wayne arrived late and competed in eight of the 23 events they were prepared to participate in. However, in the ten of the 15 events they did compete in, they ranked within the top ten schools.
Some of Western Wayne’s eighth grade students placed in the top five of their events. Jenny Guadagno received a 4th place medal in the Ecology event. She explained how for the event students had to take a test about how organisms respond to their environment. Jenny plans to pursue a career in the STEM field.
“A competition such as this helps you get to learn a lot about how to research,” she explained. “I think this will help me be better prepared for a science career.”
Jenny’s classmates, Rachel Tuman, who also wishes to have a STEM career, and Alexandra Butler, who aspires to be a surgeon or marine biologist, received 4th place medals in the Rocks and Minerals event.
The girls discussed how in preparation of the competition they spent time creating a binder of notes to help them in identifying the rocks and minerals they could encounter. They, also, feel they learned a lot about research and preparation from their experience at Science Olympiad.
“We learned about how important careful preparation is for an event such as ours,” Alex said.
The following Western Wayne Middle School students also competed and did a wonderful job: Alexandra Bien-Aime, Jenna Eldred, Sydney Ely, Bridgette Summers-Flannery, Trinity Foulds, Jaden Gregory, Rachel Hoch, Ivan Knecht, Hudson Malinowski, Anna Mangieri, Emma Pike, Stephanie Room, Kailey Tickner, and Adelaide Treibley.
Pictured are members of Western Wayne Middle School’s Science Olympiad team. From left, kneeling: Alexandra Butler, Kailey Tickner, Jenny Guadagno, Sydney Ely, Emma Pike, Jaden Gregory, and Ivan Knecht. From left, standing: Mrs. Nichole Musewicz, team advisor; Rachel Hoch, Rachel Tuman, Anna Mangieri, Trinity Foulds, Jenna Eldred, Hudson Malinowski, and Miss Elizabeth Watson, Middle School assistant principal.
