Ballston Spa Students Earn Gold at NYS Science Olympiad

SYRACUSE — The Ballston Spa High School Science Olympiad team recently competed in the New York State Science Olympiad Tournament. Students participated in 23 events against their peers representing 60 High Schools from throughout New York State. Two students from Ballston Spa won a gold medal in their event, and the team collectively finished in 41st place. 

Maddie Burns and Lee McKinley earned a gold medal in the “Write-It Do-It” event. The team is coached by High School science instructors Theresa Rousseau and Jim Poirier.

The team had placed third at the Capital Region Science Olympiad Tournament earlier this spring after competing against eighteen high school teams from throughout the Capital Region.  Ballston Spa students won medals in 19 out of 23 events including first place in five of the events. 

The first-place medal winners and their respective events include Maddie Burns and Lee McKinley in “Write It Do It” and “Trajectory,” Maddie Burns and Max Amodeo in “Chemistry Lab,”  Maddie Wilson and Jax Skylstad in “Rocks and Minerals,” and Max Amodeo and Riley Box in “Flight.”

The Science Olympiad tournament is an academic, interscholastic competition that consists of a series of individual and team events which the students prepare for throughout the year. The events are balanced between the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers and technology.