Hermosa Valley middle school students are preparing for the next round of scientific competition after finishing second in the 24th annual Los Angeles County Regional Science Olympiad. Valley was one of 35 middle schools to compete.
“Don’t make me sound like a dork, but I really am proud of my kids and my school, and the parents really helped too,” said coach Kathy Spurrell, who teaches sixth and seventh grade science at Valley.
“And I just want to emphasize how proud I am of every single student,” she said. “It took the efforts of every student to bring us up to second place.”
Fifteen students from Valley participated in the event at California State University, Los Angeles. It was the fifth year the school has taken part in the largest regional Science Olympiad in the U.S., which drew more than 2,000 students from kindergarten to 12th grade.
Spurrell praised the Valley students’ talent, experience and hard work, noting that they put in about five months of preparation for the contest. Many of the competing schools were much larger, and some were “science magnet” schools.
The Olympiad’s events emphasize scientific knowledge, problem solving and teamwork. This year’s 23 events included building and testing an airplane, an elevated bridge, an electric wheeled vehicle that can stop on a dime, and knowledge of anatomy, ornithology, chemistry, ecology, electricity, forensics, fossils, geology, mapping, meteorology and physics.
“Here at Hermosa Valley, Science Olympiad has evolved into a science club that not only prepares its team for competition, but also provides a venue for students to make friends and learn about various scientific principles and applications,” Spurrell said.
With the second-place finish, the Valley students go on to compete in a Southern California-wide round of the Science Olympiad on Saturday at Valencia High School in Placentia. The event will include top teams from Los Angeles, Orange and San Diego counties and the Inland Empire.
“We’ll be up against the best of the best,” Spurrell said.
Hermosa Valley medalists at the L.A. County regional were:
First place:
Bio Process Lab — Luke Murphy and Francis Ronkowski
Pentathlon – Alex Pao, Luke Murphy, Michael Gini, and Matt Fishman
Road Scholar — Alex Pao and Mac Power
Solar System – Matt Welch and Luke Murphy
Second place:
Dynamic Planet – Allison Lockard-Loob and Darby Power
Ornithology – Francis Ronkowski and Sylvie Paul
Fossils– Francis Ronkowski and Mac Power
Third place:
Experimental Design – Maggie Hackney, Sarah Ma, and Luke Murphy
Fifth place:
Can’t Judge a Powder – Stephanie Bosmajian and Maggie Hackney
Battery Buggy – Francis Ronkowski and Matt Fishman
Sixth place:
Science Crime Busters– Stephanie Bosmajian and Sylvie Paul
Seventh place:
Compute This – Matt Welch and Sarah Ma
Disease Detective – Sylvie Paul and Stephanie Bosmajian
Junkyard Challenge – Katrina Preiss and Darby Power
Eighth place:
Ecology – Michael Gini and Katrina Preiss
Write It/Do It – Sarah Ma and Alex Pao
Ninth place:
Elevated Bridge – Michael Gini and Mac Power
Meteorology – Allison Lockard-Loob and Jasmine Mah
Trajectory – Michael Gini and Darby Power
10th place:
Physical Science Lab – Sarah Ma and Mac Power
Wright Stuff – Maggie Hackney and Stephanie Bosmajian ER
