Wantagh’s very own Science Olympiad team traveled to the State Competition at Kellenberg Memorial High School. Fifty-one teams competed in the prestigious event, where four Science Olympiad members took home medals.

In order to qualify for the state competition, the team worked to be placed 2nd out of 41 teams in the Eastern Nassau County regional competition at Syosset High School on February 1. The team won a total of 16 medals at the competition, which included Team A winning 12 of them.

As far as Team A members go, Avery Kratzer and Alyssa Kelly placed 1st in Forensics, Andrew Bloniarz and Jaclyn Onufrey placed 1st in Green Generation, Marissa Polack and Sophia Liu placed 1st in Water Quality, Jaclyn Onufrey and Kyle Rhodehouse placed 4th in Entomology, Andrew Bloniarz and Lindsey Stevens placed 3rd in Astronomy, Kenny Peluso and Andrew Bloniarz placed 3rd in Circuit Lab, Marissa Polack and Avery Kratzer placed 6th in Chemistry of Food, Sophia Liu and Andrew Bloniarz placed 3rd in Dynamic Planet, Brian Monahan and Alyssa Soethout place 3rd in Elastic Launch Glider, Kenny Peluso, Chris Mountanos & Sophia Liu placed 4th in Experimental Design, Kenny Peluso and Alyssa Kelly placed 3rd in MagLev, and Kaitlin Pfundstein and Avery Kratzer placed 6th in Mission Possible.

Other medal winners include Team B’s Arianna Caradonna and Jack Mazzer, who placed 3rd in Anatomy & Physiology, Chris Klarides and Michelle Steinberg who placed 6th in Boomilever, Michelle Steinberg and Ariana Gagliardi who placed 3rd in Rocks and Minerals, and Team D’s Lauren Bednor and Emily Latif who placed 5th in Designer Genes.

After the event, Science Olympiads adviser Mr. Richard Colavita tweeted his third tweet ever, “Pride. Admiration. Respect. Gratitude. How is it possible that one group of people can exceed every expectation time and time again?” Their performance in this regional competition qualified the team for the states competition for the second time since 2008.

The team had a good showing at states, where Jaclyn Onufrey and Andrew Bloniarz placed 3rd in Green Generation and Kyle Roadhouse and Zach Diaks placed 7th in Scrambler.

Wantagh is very proud of the Science Olympiad team members, and the team is one of the highlights of Wantagh’s science department. “There is absolutely no way to explain Science Olympiads without sounding like a loser,” Team A member and senior Kaitlin Pfundstein said, “we study for events and then take tests? For fun? The actual fun part is seeing all of our hard work pay off and spending time with each other. I’ve made a lot of great memories over the past 4 years in room 204 with my teams.”