On Saturday, March 16, the Niles North Science Olympiad team competed at the regional competition at Oakton Community College. The following students won medals in the following events:
On the varsity team, junior Nick Bohm in Dynamic Planet and Remote Sensing; junior Ashley D’Costa in Disease Detectives, Rocks and Minerals and Write It Do It; senior Rupal Desai in Circuit Lab, Elastic Launched Glider and Rocks and Minerals; junior Jazib Gohar in Chem Lab, Designer Genes and Gravity Vehicle; junior Mathew Jacob in Chem Lab, Fermi Questions, Forensics and Gravity Vehicle; senior Michelle Jacob in Disease Detectives, Experimental Design, Fermi Questions and Technical Problem Solving; senior Geet Kumar in Astronomy, Elastic Launched Glider and Robot Arm; senior Michelle Lin in Anatomy & Physiology, Designer Genes and Technical Problem Solving; senior Reena Patel in Elastic Launched Glider, Experimental Design, Remote Sensing and Water Quality; sophomore Elizabeth Poozhikunnel in Astronomy, Thermodynamics and Water Quality; junior Matt Shuwal in MagLev, Materials Science and Thermodynamics; sophomore Sarah Stauber in Boomilever and Forestry; senior Carolyn Sullivan in Circuit Lab, Forestry, Forensics and MagLev; senior Lilly Wong in Boomilever, Materials Science and Robot Arm; and junior Lucy Yao in Anatomy & Physiology, Dynamic Planet and Write It Do It.
On the junior varsity team, sophomore Sohail Amin in Elastic Launched Glider, Matierals Science and Remote Sensing; freshman Benjamin Barov in Disease Detectives, Rocks and Minerals and Thermodynamics; senior Jack Dombrowski in Circuit Lab, Fermi Questions and Technical Problem Solving; freshman Matthew Gaynes in Boomilever, Gravity Vehicle, MagLev and Robot Arm; freshman Jimmy Gonzalez-Vicker in Dynamic Planet and Forestry; freshman Alex Guidarelli in Circuit Lab, Materials Science and Remote Sensing; sophomore Haresh Kansara in Elastic Launched Glider, Gravity Vehicle, MagLev and Technical Problem Solving; sophomore Kiana Lee in Anatomy & Physiology and Write It Do It; junior David Liljewall in Astronomy, Fermi Questions and Water Quality; freshman Chris Scheithauer in Astronomy, Dynamic Planet, Forestry and Rocks and Minerals; junior Iris Schwartz in Chem Lab, Disease Detectives and Designer Genes; junior Rachel Tapper in Boomilever, Water Quality and Robot Arm; junior Shon Thomas in Chem Lab, Experimental Design and Thermodynamics; sophomore Aaliyah Williams in Anatomy & Physiology and Write It Do It; and junior Vivian Yim in Designer Genes, Experimental Desin and Forensics.
The varsity team scored a total of 146 points, finishing in fourth place, and the junior varsity team scored a total of 95 points, ending in third place. Points were calculated according to what place was scored in the event – first place got one point, second place got two points, and so on. Both teams scored highly enough to qualify for the state competition.
“We weren’t really expecting to place that high. It was a lot of last minute preparation the day before the competition, but we pulled it off and I’m proud. I have a lot of faith in the team to pull out some wins at state as well,” head coach John Kretsos said.
The state competition will be held on Saturday, April 20 at the University of Illinois– Urbana-Champaign.
