This past weekend, the Harlan Rowe Middle School Science Olympiad Team competed at the National Science Olympiad Tournament at Cornell University in Ithaca, NY. Sixty teams from all 50 states gathered for a three day event to test the knowledge of some of the best young minds in the country. Festivities kicked off with an Opening Ceremony that featured a “parade of states” followed by a keynote address by Grant Imahara from “Mythbusters”. Competition ran all day Saturday and ended the evening with a formal awards ceremony.
Harlan Rowe took home four National Medals including 5th place in Disease Detectives (Andrue Andrus and Ronel Ankam), 5th place in Roller Coaster (Jacob Sickler, Mea Abbott), 3rd place in Boomilever (Carter Henry and Ronel Ankam), and 3rd place in Game on (Katie Gorman and Carter Henry). Overall the team is now ranked 15th nationally, which is an impressive placement considering there are no divisions separating large schools from small schools. Schools of all sizes compete at the same level.
Perhaps the greatest honor bestowed upon the entire team, was winning the Lockheed-Martin Spirit of Science Olympiad Award. The award was presented by Science Olympiad co-founder Sharon Putz who said “The Spirit Award exemplifies the qualities that we want the Science Olympiad to be, and intended it to be in the future. The team members working together, displaying the honest efforts of competition, working together to honor their school, to honor their community and to honor the nation as a whole, by their efforts and their excellence.” A $2000 check was awarded to the team as part of the honor.