RHS Science Olympiad Team Advances to Nationals

For the second consecutive year, Ravenwood High won first place at the Tennessee State Science Olympiad and will be competing in the national tournament.

Ravenwood High students took home five first-place individual awards in Division C of the competition. Sophie McAtee and Sophia Wang won the Astronomy category; Ajay Balaje and Sophie McAtee won the Geological Mapping category; Christina Chen and Ryland Hoskins won the Optics category; Rohan Kilaru and Aditya Pradeep won the Robot Tour category; and Gwen Moser, with the help of Grady Landry, won the Tower category.

"The students performed really well under the added pressure of trying to repeat last year's Science Olympiad State championship," said RHS teacher Avrill Buersetta. "I am super proud of their tenacity and hard work all year long to get to this point. Everyone is looking forward to nationals in Michigan."

Brentwood High students also competed and finished the tournament with four first-place wins. Katherine Perez and Katie Wang won the Codebusters category; Andrew Gan and Luke Haws won the Detector Building category; Trishita Paul and Teebro Paul won the Ecology category; and Ryan Gardocki and Andrew Gan won the Microbe Missions category. Their advisers are Margaret Bernard and Abigail Hocking. 

Franklin High students also participated in the competition and placed sixth in two categories. Their adviser is David Crafton.

Both Page and Sunset middle schools took part in the Division B competition. Page Middle students Srinika Narayanan and Vedha Girija Ramanan won the Microbe Mission category. Their adviser is Meredith Mitchell.

The Science Olympiad is an organization devoted to improving the quality of science education. Teams of students develop their teamwork throughout the year before competing in regional tournaments. The top teams in each division advance to the State tournament to participate in competitive events, which may require students to possess knowledge of scientific concepts, understand scientific processes or be able to perform certain skills. At the State tournament, the top team in each division advances to the Science Olympiad National Tournament.

Congratulations to the students who placed in the top six of their categories:

Middle School, Division B

Air Trajectory

• Sixth: Faiza Mohamed and Darsh Gurav, Page Middle

Anatomy and Physiology

• Third: Faiza Mohamed and Vedha Girija Ramanan, Page Middle

Cant Judge a Powder

• Fourth: Srinika Narayanan and Faiza Mohamed, Page Middle

Crime Busters

• Fifth: Ananya Sardesai and Jack Paiva, Page Middle

Dynamic Planet

• Fifth: Saanvi Pradhan and Albert Pan, Page Middle

Ecology

• Fourth: Jack Paiva and Darsh Gurav, Page Middle

Experimental Design

• Ananya Sardesai, Saanvi Pradham and Aditi Shankar, Page Middle

Forestry

• Fifth: Vedha Girija Ramanan and Amy Neenu Manu, Page Middle

Meteorology

• Fifth: Darsh Singh and Jacob Shalaby, Sunset Middle

Microbe Mission

• First: Srinika Narayanan and Vedha Girija Ramanan, Page Middle

Optics

• Sixth: Saanvi Pradhan and Albert Pan, Page Middle

Road Scholar

• Sixth: Alex McGinnis and Ben McGinnis, Sunset Middle

Roller Coaster

• Sixth: Jacob Shalaby and Alex McGinnis, Sunset Middle

Wheeled Vehicle

• Sixth: Quinn Gallagher and Ben McGinnis, Sunset Middle

Wind Power

• Fourth: Joseph Shalaby and Jacob Shalaby, Sunset Middle

Write It Do It

• Second: Grayson Garner and Vedha Girija Ramanan, Page Middle
• Sixth: Joseph Shalaby and Ben McGinnis, Sunset Middle

High School, Division C

Anatomy and Physiology

• Second: Trishita Paul and Andrew Gan, Brentwood High
• Third: Faheem Mohamed and Chetan Yenigalla, Ravenwood High
• Sixth: Abby Webb, Franklin High

Astronomy

• First: Sophie McAtee and Sophia Wang, Ravenwood High

Codebusters

• First: Katherine Perez and Katie Wang, Brentwood High
• Second: Ajay Balaje and Brayden Zhang, Ravenwood High

Detector Building

• First: Andrew Gan and Luke Haws, Brentwood High
• Second: Faheem Mohamed and Brayden Zhang, Ravenwood High

Disease Detectives

• Third: Katie Wang and Claire Zhang, Brentwood High
• Fifth: Ajay Balaje and Brayden Zhang, Ravenwood High

Dynamic Planet 

• Second: Christina Chen and Claire Moser, Ravenwood High
• Sixth: Melinda Cai and Audrey Yu, Brentwood High

Ecology 

• First: Trishita Paul and Teebro Paul, Brentwood High
• Fourth: Claire Moser and Christina Qi, Ravenwood High
• Sixth: Abby Webb, Franklin High

Experimental Design

• Second: Gabriela Estrada, Sophia Wang and Christina Qi, Ravenwood High
• Third: Trishita Paul, Amy Park and Luke Haws, Brentwood High

Fermi Questions

• Second: Teebro Paul and Luke Haws, Brentwood High

Flight

• Fifth: Gabriela Estrada, Ravenwood High

Forensics

• Second: Aditya Pradeep and Chetan Yenigalla, Ravenwood High

Forestry

• Third: Claire Zhang and Dennis DeGennaro, Brentwood High
• Fourth: Ryland Hoskins and Faheem Mohamed, Ravenwood High

Geologic Mapping

• First: Ajay Balaje and Sophie McAtee, Ravenwood High

Microbe Mission

• First: Ryan Gardocki and Andrew Gan, Brentwood High

Optics

• First: Christina Chen and Ryland Hoskins, Ravenwood High
• Second: Katherine Perez and Amy Parks, Brentwood High

Robot Tour

• First: Rohan Kilaru and Aditya Pradeep, Ravenwood High

Scrambler

• Third: Ryan Gardocki and Dennis DeGennaro, Brentwood High

Tower

• First: Gwen Moser, Ravenwood High

Wind Power

• Fourth: Rohan Kilaru and Chetan Yenigalla, Ravenwood High
• Fifth: TJ Gardocki and John Choi, Brentwood High

Write It Do It

• Third: Christina Qi and Sophia Wang, Ravenwood High