For the sixth time in the last seven years, the Marie Murphy School Science Olympiad team has once again qualified to compete in the National Science Olympiad Tournament. The Marie Murphy School team placed first in six of twenty-three events and brought home more medals than any other team at the recent state competition held at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign campus. They will now move on to compete in the national tournament Saturday at the University of Wisconsin in Madison. Faculty coaches are James Gravagna, Darren Persino, Peter Ogden and Shannon Wright. Parent volunteer coaches are Anne Nagle, Geraldine Newmark, Rory Wolfe, Herng-Jeng Jou, Hui-Chen Li and Changappa Kodendera. Persino said, “We are very proud of how our students rose to the occasion in competition and continued the team’s level of sustained excellence in representing their team and their school.”
First place medal winners include: Awesome Aquifer—Solena Rizzato and Michael Rivkin; Crimebusters—Sahar Bhai and Leah Rivkin; Experimental Design—Rene Chen, Stephanie Chen and Josh Park; Fossils—Alexander Chen and Clara Yam; Meteorology—Vivian Jou and Solena Rizzato; Optics—Alexander Chen and Rene Chen; and Storm the Castle—Alexander Chen and Aiyappa Kodendera.
Third place medal winners include: Dynamic Planet—Michael Rivkin and David Yan; Microbe Mission—Sahar Bhai and Vivian Jou; and Towers—Jason Lee and Clara Yam.
Fourth place medal winners include: Anatomy—Sahar Bhai and Lauren Newmark; Disease Detectives—Vivian Jou and Aiyappa Kodendera; and Road Scholar—Leah Rivkin and Solena Rizzato.
Fifth place medal winners include: Junkyard Challenge—Michael Rivkin and Jonah Wolfe; and Ornithology—Rene Chen and Josh Park.
