Strong Start for our Science Olympiad Team

Our Science Olympiad team competed in all 23 events in the Ohio State University Invitational tournament in January and placed 15^th out of 48 teams.

Four groups received medals by placing in the top six in their events:

• Jason Starodub `26 and Yihe Zhang `26 placed 4^th in Chemistry Lab;
• Yihe Zhang `26 and Marley Handler `24 placed 4^th in Wind Power;
• Jason Starodub `26 and Marley Handler `24 placed 4^th in Forensics;
• and Donovan Gray `25 and Eric Niu `27 placed 5^th in Forensics.

The team also had some great top 15 finishes:

• Alex Riemann `24 & Ayaan Arif `25 – Air Trajectory
• Jordan Lowe `25 & Ayaan Arif `25 – Anatomy & Physiology
• Sanjay Cherukuri `26, Ryaan Arif `26, & Solar Zhou `25 – Codebusters
• Alex Riemann `24 & Trevor Gregorsok `25 – Ecology
• Jessica Chen `26 & Jordan Lowe`25 – Microbe Mission
• Jason Starodub `26 & Ryaan Arif `26 – Optics
• Kevin Yang `24 & Jack Albers `26 – Robot Tour
• Yihe Zhang `26 & Jessica Chen `26 – Scrambler
• Lilly Shafer `26 & Katherine Connelly `26 – Disease Detectives
• Greta Varga `26 & Yvannia Buten `26 – Ecology
• Katherine `26 & Caroline Connelly `26 – Write It Do It

“Team numbers have returned to normal after dipping due to Covid, and we now have 27 members on the team,” says Jordan Lowe `25, team co-captain. “We're very proud of everyone's hard work; it's very rewarding for everyone to see their efforts recognized.”

Dr. Jonathan Franzosa, head coach and Upper School science teacher, confirmed that approximately 10% of the Upper School student body is participating in Science Olympiad this year.

“It’s exciting that the Science Olympiad Team had a great showing at the tournament and has returned to full strength this year,” says Franzosa. “The team overall is very young and that should give us a strong base to build on for years to come. Our success is definitely a group effort; the team has already been preparing for the regional competition.”

If the team performs well at regionals at Xavier University on March 2, they will qualify for and go to the state tournament at Ohio State University this spring. This year’s co-captains are Marley Handler `24 and  Jordan Lowe `25 and this is the third year on the team for both captains. This is the 32^nd year of Country Day’s participation in Science Olympiad. 2024 marks the 40th season of the program.