In mid-January, we went to Yale in New Haven, Connecticut to compete in the Yale Undergraduate Science Olympiad. Forty-seven high school teams from Pennsylvania, New York, Connecticut, and Massachusetts were there, including former state champions and some of this year’s top teams in the East.

This was our first major invitational like this, and our team goal was to not finish in last place. We accomplished that, finishing in thirty-fifth place, a great finish for such steep competition. Best of all, Jack Gallagher and Cody Barry won the fifth-place medal in their Geological Mapping event.

Our next competition was the regional final at Clarkson University. Eleven teams were there, and we took second place as a team, behind perennial power Plattsburgh. Many students won medals in their individual events:

Astronomy: Matt Le and Melissa Rath – 2nd place

Bridge Building: Steven Kulina and Teresa Smith – 1st place

Cell Biology: Nina Armstrong and Conor Garret – 3rd place

Compound Machines: Melissa Rath and Emily Eaton – 3rd place

Disease Detectives: Elena Bushy, Teresa Smith, Mia Kennedy, and Nick Lysek – 2nd place

Entomology: Teresa Smith and Gabby Armstrong – 2nd place

Experimental Design: Melissa Rath, Brenna Garret, Erin Skufca – 2nd place

Green Generation/Environmental Science: Jack Gallagher and Cody Barry – 2nd place

Mission Possible/Rube Goldberg: Lewis Collum, Mia Kennedy, and Elena Bushy – 1st place

Scrambler/Wheeled Vehicle: Lewis Collum and Elena Bushy – 3rd place

Lake Placid and Potsdam dueled for second place throughout the day. Dramatic finishes in Bridge Building, Bungee Drop, and Disease Detectives sealed the victory for the Bombers. Great job to the whole team!

Because of our second-place finish, we will be going to the state finals at Le Moyne College the weekend of March 14. Go Bombers!