Skip to main content

Science Olympiad Brings Home Medals


Congratulations to our John Jay Science Olympians for winning 7th place at the New York State Science Olympiad competition!

The club began in September where students were assigned “events,” or mini-competitions, for which they were to prepare. Some were knowledge-based events that required extensive studying outside of school and some were build-based events that required building and extensive testing of a project to complete a goal within specific parameters. The events covered topics from anatomy and forensics to invasive species and geological mapping. Build events included events like making electric cars, pendulums and bridges.

For four months, the students prepared. Then the season began in late January.

First, a select group of members went to the Yale Invitationals where they scored 13th place and won the Best New School award. Then, they went to the Regionals competition in early February, bringing home 2nd place and a plethora of Top 10 medals.

Then, they went to States.

Last year, our team brought home 15th place, a two place ascension from the previous year’s 17th.

This year, we came in 7th. We won a handful of gold and silver medals in both knowledge and build events, and placed Top 25 in most events. Months of hard word paid off when John Jay Hopewell Junction—because John Jay Cross River was also present—was announced as the 7th place team. Our team is now a Top 10 Science Olympiad team of the state!

A special congratulations to the following members for their gold and silver medals: Ashna Gupta, Nick Fan, Karthik Ledalla, Aydin Wells, Isabel Wu, Salil Chandra.

© 2016 Maryam S. All rights reserved.

Popular posts from this blog

High School isn't Forever

When I was asked to write an article for the John Jay newspaper, I was admittedly a bit hesitant. I didn’t think anyone would really want to hear from me. If I’m honest, despite having incredible friends all throughout high school, I couldn’t help but feel like an outcast. A lot of my time at John Jay was spent trying to avoid people. I always seemed to get stuck with all the people that didn’t like me in one class. I tried to be nice, but then I’d be made fun of. When I was mean and defensive, I was made fun of more. I felt like I couldn’t win. Needless to say, high school was rough for me. At the end of my freshman year, I stopped eating. In the beginning of my sophomore year, I weighed 76 pounds. It took me until the middle of my junior year to make it back up to 93 pounds, and I still struggled to keep the weight on for a long time. During most of my sophomore year, I had anxiety attacks three or four times a week. Sometimes they were so severe that I’d get sick. I hid my insec...

John Jay FBLA Goes To The New York State Leadership Conference

After competing in the Spring District Meeting of District 3N, the students of the John Jay High School chapter of FBLA began to prepare for the next big competition ahead of them: the State Leadership Conference, which took place April 13th through 15th. This competition included schools from all over New York state, and contained almost a thousand competitors. Presentations were constructed, tests were labored over, and individual performance events were practiced until they could be recited in sleep. Then, on Tuesday, April 12th, it was time. The students brought their luggage in the morning and spent the rest of the school day in a nervous jitter, unable to concentrate on anything except the fact that they would be leaving for Rochester in a mere few hours. Eventually, that time came and, with only a minor fiasco involving the Ketcham competitors, they were off. Five hours later, after a long train ride, they arrived at the Radisson Hotel in Rochester, and had a very late dinner ...

John Jay Believers

If you ask people what their least favorite day is in the week, they will probably say it is Monday. Monday is by far the most brutal day of the week. Once school is over, all you want to do is sit down, relax, grab a bite to eat and do something to brighten up your day. If this is you, check out John Jay’s newest club: John Jay Believers. JJB is a Christian-based club at John Jay High School that helps strengthen relationships and their faith in God. It meets after school on Mondays from 2pm until around 3pm. JJB is open to all students and faculty so it is a great way to get to know each other better and to see a different side of one another. “JJB is a place where Christians can come share their faith and live life with others,” Leah Rodriguez, a member of JJB, said. “From snacks to games to inspirational messages—it’s a lot of fun and I look forward to it every week.” JJB helps prepare students to take on each school day by meeting every morning before first period to pray. JJB is ...