Scholars Academy Science Olympiad high school team placed eighth overall as they competed against 18 other teams at the region tournament held at Middle Georgia State University in Macon on Feb. 18.  

Science Olympiad consists of 23 different events that cover the areas of physics, earth science, biology, engineering, technology, chemistry and scientific inquiry. The competition involves a wide range of activities from identifying rock samples, to designing a computer game, to planning and running an experiment on the spot.  

Christie Ariail has been coaching the middle and high school teams for the past six years at Scholars Academy. This year’s high school team was a mix of freshman and sophomore students, most of who had been competing for several years on the middle school team. 

Freshman team members are Winston Cornish, Emma Humphries, Cayden Hunt, Molly Novak and Braxton Sizemore. Sophomore team members are Emily Dixon, LaTatyana Hadley, Keisha Patel, Olivia Sawyer, Claudia White and Mason Wilson. The faculty members who ran the competition at MGSU were impressed with the abilities, performance and success of the team since most of the other teams were made up mostly of juniors and seniors.

“The students were thrilled with their success this year,” Ariail said. “They know that in the next few years, they will be a force to be reckoned with at this region competition.”

Ariail added the team knows that all of the work they put into competing at the middle school level the past four to five years contributed to their success at the high school level.

Medals were awarded for first through fourth places: Keisha Patel and Olivia Sawyer won first place in Forensics, Emily Dixon and Molly Novak won third place in Astronomy, and Claudia White and Mason Wilson won fourth place in Remote Sensing.

Ribbons are awarded for fifth through 10th places: Molly Novak and Claudia White won fifth place in Ecology; Braxton Sizemore and Winston Cornish won seventh place in Rocks and Minerals; Emily Dixon and Keisha Patel won seventh place in Write It/Do It; Olivia Sawyer and Mason Wilson won eighth place in Chemistry Lab; LaTatyana Hadley and Claudia White won eighth place in Materials Science; Molly Novak and Mason Wilson won ninth place in Disease Detectives; Emma Humphries and Braxton Sizemore won ninth place in Invasive Species; Emma Humphries and Cayden Hunt won ninth place in Optics; Emma Humphries and Cayden Hunt won ninth place in Wind Power; LaTatyana Hadley, Molly Novak and Braxton Sizemore won 10th place in Experimental Design; and LaTatyana Hadley and Claudia White won 10th place in Hydrogeology. 

“We entered 18 events this year, and we placed in 14 of them,” Ariail said. “I cannot wait to see what this team does next year.” 

For more information about Thomasville Science Olympiad, visit Ariail’s school webpage at cariail841.weebly.com.