By Isaac Guttman, ’10, News Editor
The atmosphere at Northmont High School on Saturday, January 9th was as intense as a Friday night varsity basketball game. Members of Science Olympiad participated in the Northmont Invitational, one of the largest and most competitive competitions in the Midwest. “My heart was racing during ChemLab; the intense pace of competition was thrilling,” said senior co-captain Sebastian Koochaki. “I definitely felt a buzz.”
In its third showing at the Northmont Invitational, Country Day’s Science Olympiad team earned its most impressive finish yet, placing a 9th out of 27 teams from across Midwest. With three ribbons and two medals in the 23 event competition, Country Day outperformed all other Cincinnati schools in attendance, including perennial powerhouses Wyoming and Mason.
Success for the team was not achieved easily. Composed of 15 students, a majority of whom are underclassmen, Science Olympiad is led by senior co-captains Kevin Baxter and Sebastian Koochaki and advisers Mrs. Paula Butler, Mr.Francisco Borrero, and Mr. John Carriero. In an effort to “whip the team into shape,” Koochaki and Baxter organized a more intense and frequent practice schedule which had the team meet three times a week and even had optional practice over winter break. “We needed more time to practice and prepare because we were more inexperienced [than last year],” said Baxter.
“[The practices] paid off,” remarked Mrs. Butler.
Jayne Caron, ’10 and Sebastian Koochaki excelled in the Chemistry Lab event, earning a 1st place finish. Caron and Koochaki also finished 3rd in Technical Problem Solving.
Senior Marzieh Mirzamani and Alex Levinson, ’12, collected a 4th place ribbon in the Dynamic Planet event.
In Experimental Design, Caron, Brad Hammoor, ’12, and Henry Pease, ’12, collected another 4th place.
Baxter and Pease finished 5th in the event It’s About Time. Baxter, who used the gold medal he received for winning the same event last year as the mass for his pendulum, said finishing fifth was the best part of his day. “We still placed, even after failing the written section of the event, because our time trial went so well.”
Butler has high hopes for the team, saying “If the team continues to work hard for the next month or two, they could do quite well at the Regional Science Olympiad competition!”
The competition will be held on March 6th at Raymond Walters College of the University of Cincinnati.
Photo of Marzieh Mirzamani and Brad Hammoor courtesy of Mrs. Butler.