New Trier Wins 11th Straight State Science Olympiad Title

New Trier Township High School's Science Olympiad varsity team won its 11th straight State Title at the University of Illinois this weekend. The team took home $2,000 and moves on to the National competition at the University of Central Florida on May 17-20.

The varsity team won medals in 18 of 23 events, including a record 11 first place medals (in Astronomy, Chemistry Lab, Disease Detectives, Fermi Questions, Forestry, Gravity Vehicle, Microbe Mission, Optics, Remote Sensing, Rocks & Minerals, and Water Quality); three second place medals (Protein Modeling, Robot Arm, and Sounds of Music); one third place medal (Dynamic Planet); and three fourth place medals (Anatomy & Physiology, Helicopters, and Towers).

The JV Team won medals in three of five events: first Place in Geocaching, second Place in Elastic Launched Glider, and fourth place in Green Generation, rounding out New Trier’s total medal count at 21 medals out of 27 events. New Trier was one of 48 teams competing at the 2012 State meet.

The 2012 varsity team members are: seniors Adam Cohen, Chloe Director, Ben Feis, Eleanor Hyun, Elaine Shen, Jeff SubbaRao , and Christina Tsai; juniors Hayley Bounds, Jung Oh, and Arthur Tsang; and sophomores Andy Feis, Amanda Newmark, Alex Tamkin, Ari Wolfe, and Sean Ye.

The JV competitors in trial events were: Byron Hopps, Michael Knippen, Ruth Lee, Declan  Mulroy, Michael Salceda, Carly Schroeder, Katie Shade, and Tyra Yam.

New Trier also fielded an all-freshman team, which placed 18th overall in the field of 48 teams, most made up of juniors and seniors. The freshman team won a second place medal in Towers, two fourth place medals in Astronomy and Optics, and two fifth place medals in Gravity Vehicle and Rocks & Minerals. For the trial events, they won first place in Tow-Line Glider, and fifth place in Geocaching.

New Trier’s Varsity and JV Science Olympiad teams are coached by Head Coach Jan Leonhardt, Tony Harper, Bruce Credo, Alex Howe, and David Jabon. The Freshman team is coached by Head Coach Nicole Hoefling, Tom Anderson, Shayda Crosby and Phil Steptoe.

More information about the Science Olympiad organization can be found at: http://soinc.org/

Information provided by New Trier Township High School District 203.

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