Mar. 19, 2014:  From cars powered by fishing rods to helicopters to rotor egg drops, these inventions and others were presented last Saturday, March 8, by thirty-three Bronxville Middle School students who participated in the interscholastic New York State Science Olympiad Regional Competition, which was held at Scarsdale Middle School.

The Bronxville students competed against twenty-seven other schools from the Lower Hudson Valley, many with multiple teams.

Bronxville entered three teams in the competition, with team members pairing up for each event. Students competed in multiple events with different partners and prepared every day after school from January through early March.

The twenty events in the competition this year, which rotate from year to year, included four building events open to the public and numerous timed, closed-door study events, which covered different topics including genetics, simple machines, the solar system, green generations (recycling), invasive species, experimental design, and many others (complete list below).

Entries in the open events were built according to strict requirements and were judged by how much weight they could hold (Boomilever), how accurately they could propel to within a target zone (Wheeled Vehicle), how slowly they could drop and how well they could prevent an egg from breaking when dropped (Rotor Egg Drop)--our first-place team landed an egg intact!--and how long they could stay in the air (Helicopter)--our fifth-place team had just over 41 seconds and rumor is that the winners exceeded two minutes.

The students were accompanied by Frank Viggiani, sixth grade science teacher, and Jean Windels, eighth grade science teacher, who runs the program after school.  Jennifer Zopp, seventh grade science teacher, also stopped by for moral support for the students who attended. Parent volunteer Greg Howell assisted after school to help the students prepare for the competition even though none of his own children participated this year.

This is Bronxville's seventh year at the Science Olympiad; the team began with seven students and has expanded to this year's thirty-three strong. "The students always have a lot of fun, because they meet kids from other schools, and they just really enjoy it," said Ms. Windels.

The competition lasted the whole day with various victories and several near misses within Bronxville's team. Though the team did not place in the top five and will not be going to the next level, the entire team won the spirit award, which is voted on by all of the coaches. In addition, the following students were awarded medals:

Crime Busters:  Xavier Layton and Brian Li (both 6th grade)

Dynamic Planet:  Lily Monahan and Kenny Taylor (both 8th grade)

Experimental Design, two teams: Christina Leska-Kent (8th grade), Robby Schetlick (8th grade), Jack Seminara (6th grade), and Graana Khan, Jack Kochansky, and Lily Vorbach (all 7th grade)

Helicopter:  Lily Monahan and Kenny Taylor (both 8th grade)

Rotor Egg Drop:  Christopher Hutchins and Johji Nonaka (both 6th grade)

Solar System:  Jack Kochansky and Nathan Revadigar (both 7th grade)

Additional students who competed were:

6th grade:  Charles Ambrose, Joseph Daher, Sean Eigendorff, Ben Hanley, Aiden Hiller, Anthony Huang, Caitlin Mooney, Jack Ruhanen, and Erin Vest.

7th grade:  Michele Coppola, Timmy Cushman, Tashi Dhargyal, Tentse Doma, Andrew Howson, Kirsten Ircha, Zip Malley, Patrick Mooney, Alexander New, Anton Tarazi, and Julian Thomet.

The complete list of events this year is:  Anatomy, Boomilever (open event), Can't Judge a Powder, Crime Busters, Dynamic Planet, Entomology, Experimental Design, Green Generations, Helicopters (open event), Heredity, Invasives, Meteorology, Road Scholar, Rocks and Minerals, Rotor Egg Drop (open event), Simple Machines, Solar System, Water Quality, Wheeled Vehicle (open event), and Write It Do It.

Congratulations to all participants! Look for a strong return next year, and who knows . . . perhaps even a top-five finish.

For photos of the event, click here:  New York State Science Olympiad Regional Competition 2014

Pictured here:  Bronxville students Charlie Ambrose and Anthony Huang.

Photo by Nancee Adams-Taylor