Ballston Spa Science Olympiad Team Goes to State Competition

BALLSTON SPA — The Ballston Spa High School Science Olympiad team placed third at the Capital Region Science Olympiad Tournament, which was recently held at Ballston Spa High School. Eighteen high school teams from throughout the Capital Region competed in the tournament.  

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.”

Their successful finish qualified the team for the New York State competition at Le Moyne College on March 17 and 18. The team is coached by High School science instructors Theresa Rousseau and Jim Poirier.

The Science Olympiad tournament is a rigorous, academic, interscholastic competition that consists of a series of individual and team events which the students prepare for throughout the year.  The events are well-balanced between the various science disciplines of biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, computers and technology. The team of 15 students competed in 23 events which range from the construction of a rubber band propelled plane to college-level pen-and-paper assessments.