HARRELLS – The Harrells Christian Academy Science Olympiad team competed this past weekend at the Kinston Regional tournament, bringing home medals in 13 events, placing third overall and qualifying for the State Science Olympiad at N.C. State in April.
“This year we faced some unusual challenges, and it is amazing that we performed as well as we did,” said coach Dee Canady, HCA’s chemistry teacher. “While most of our competition had 18-member teams, ours this year was a 13-member team, so our students had to prepare for as many as four events. Additionally, the Kinston Regional was a month earlier than normal, so each of our team members had to prepare for both the State Beta Club competition and Science Olympiad the very next week. I can’t tell you how proud I am of these students. They worked on their own time and exceeded my expectations.”
First held in North Carolina in 1974, Science Olympiad is one of the premier science competitions in the nation, providing rigorous, standards-based challenges to 7,600 teams in 50 states. Science Olympiad’s ever-changing line-up of events in all STEM disciplines exposes students to practicing scientists and career choices, and energizes classroom teachers with a dynamic content experience.
Harrells Christian Academy students won in the following events:
First place
— Anatomy & Physiology: Brayden Sutton, Miranda Wells
— Helicopters: Ellie Carone, Kyra Gensel
— Hovercraft: Stefani Boussais, Mary Lila Blackburn
— Thermodynamics: Cameron Simpson, Brayden Sutton
— Towers: Jackson Hall, Seth Harrell
Second place
— Codebusters: Will DeAndrade, Jackson Hall, Kaleb Jessup
— Microbe Mission: Cameron Simpson, Miranda Wells
— Mission Possible: Kyra Gensel, Kaleb Jessup
— Ping-Pong Parachute: Ellie Carone, Miranda Wells
— Remote Sensing: Seth Harrell, Cameron Simpson
Third place
— Forensics: Ivey Rouse, Cameron Simpson
Fifth place
— Amazing Mechatronics: Kaleb Jessup, Kyra Gensel
— Ecology: Stefani Boussais, Mary Lila Blackburn
This is the last year that Canady will coach the Harrells Science Olympiad team, as she is retiring at the end of this year.
“I am so glad that I have been able to bring this to Harrells,” she said. “It has been fun. I love seeing that “light bulb” when students have to take their theoretical knowledge and really apply it to a helicopter or a tower. It is so beneficial. I will really miss working with the students.”