The Elwood Middle School Science Olympiad team competed against 20 other schools from eastern Long Island in the March 11 regional event at Robert Cushman Murphy Junior High School in Stony Brook. Elwood’s team earned medals in two events.

Science Olympiad competitions consist of a series of team events, a portion of which are rotated each year to reflect the everchanging nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology. By combining events from all disciplines, Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to get involved. Emphasis is placed on active, hands-on group participation.

In the Flight event, Elwood eighth graders Lucas Ammirati and David Henderson earned third place medals. In the Bridge event, eighth grader Zafar Asadullah and sixth grader Alex Benavides earned fourth place medals. The bridge constructed by these students was able to hold over 847 times its own mass, an incredible feat for Elwood’s team of budding civil engineers.

Elwood Science Olympiad coaches Krista Bienkowski, Jonathan Mead and Jon Rowland were proud of how well the students prepared and studied for the regional event.

“We have been preparing since October for this day,” Mead said. “The students worked hard, overcame challenges and obstacles and put in a tremendous amount of time after school for this one-day event.”

Date Added: 4/10/2023