Lakeville Middle School Science Olympiad Places at Regional Competition

The two Kenwood Trail Middle School Science Olympiad teams took 2nd and 3rd place at the Middle School Science Olympiad Regional Competition at Minnetonka Middle School East on Saturday, Feb. 12.

Century Middle School finished in sixth-place out of 15 teams in total. Altogether, 13 individual teams placed fourth or higher in specific events including three first place wins.

"I think that participants in Science Olympiad are driven to excellence in their individual events due in part to the high expectations of every team and coach in attendanc," said Brandi Hansmeyer, the state director of the middle school Science Olympiad and Kenwood Trail Middle School Science Olympiad coach. "The material covered in each individual event runs the gamut of science and engineering skills; in many cases taught at a pre-college or college level of understanding."

The teams are now looking forward to the March 12 state tournament held at the University of St. Thomas. About 30 teams statewide will participate in the state tournament, and the winning team is invited to attend the national tournament held at the University of Wisconsin, in Madison, WI, at the end of May.

“It is exciting to give motivated kids a project and watch them tackle it. The kids have been working hard on this for the past three months, and we are happy with how they performed and excited to see continued success at state,” said Chris Olson, Century Middle School's Science Olympiad coach.

According to the national science olympiad website, “Science Olympiad is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing male, female and minority interest in science, creating a technologically-literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers. These goals are achieved by participating in Science Olympiad tournaments and non-competitive events, incorporating Science Olympiad into classroom curriculum and attending teacher training institutes."

Individual Team Member Results:

Kenwood Middle School
• Martin Halvorson and Sawyer Rutan: first-place Anatomy
• Jack Ziegler and Austin Leverty: first-place Solar System
• Thomas Stokes and Jackson Amodeo: first-place Tower
• Belle Randow and Evan Ford: second-place Tower
• Austin Leverty and Ricky Feltner: second-place Meteorology
• David Bock and Kyle Binder: second-place Crimebusters
• Justin Nicoski and Jackson Amodeo: third-place Solar System
• Sam Ewert and Elizabeth Ewert: third-place Anatomy
• Thomas Stokes and Seth Makowski: fouth-place Meteorology
• Tori Zook and Addie Saathoff: fourth-place Crimebusters

Century Middle School
• Blaize Kandler: 2nd place Ornithology
• Matt Hoffmann and Conrad Holzemer: third-place Microbe Mission
• Conrad Holzemer and Zach Baklund: fouth-place Write it - Do it
• Jarod Robinson and Eric Baklund: fifth-place Tower Building
• Zach Baklund: fifth-place Battery Buggy
• Jarod Robinson and Matt Slane: sixth-place Solar System