The Buccaneers had a successful tournament weekend in Wichita, Kansas, coming in 13th place overall at Science Olympiad nationals.
The Grand Haven High School Science Olympiad team competed in the 39th annual Science Olympiad National Tournament hosted by Wichita State University on Saturday, May 20. The team went up against 59 other high schools for their first in-person national tournament since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic.
GHHS scored a total of 405 points at this year’s national tournament. Students received medals (first through sixth places) in six of the 23 events for team points.
The team finished first place at the Region 12 tournament at Grand Valley State University and first place at the state tournament at Michigan State University this year. Last year, GHHS finished in 14th place overall at the national tournament.
The first place team in the high school division was Adlai E. Stevenson High School, from Lincolnshire, Illinois, and the first place team in the middle school division was Kennedy Middle School, from Cupertino, California.
Representing Michigan in the high school division with the Bucs was Ann Arbor Pioneer High School, which placed second at the state tournament and finished 24th in the nation this weekend.
Michigan State University will host the 40th annual Science Olympiad National Tournament in May 2024.
This year is the 38th year of Science Olympiad at GHHS. The Bucs have now competed in the national tournament 28 times, winning the national title in 1993, 1994, and 1997.
The places at the tournament, events, students, and coaches for GHHS were:
First Place – 1 point
Trajectory – Jagger Schaendorf and Gordon Schneider, coaches Braeton Ardell and Eric VanDyke
Second Place – 2 points
Green Generation – Sydney Kroll and Kyla Streng, coach Danielle Misovich
Third Place – 3 points
Scrambler – Justin Hancock and Gordon Schneider, coach Bob Monetza
Fourth Place – 4 points
Fermi Questions – Ben Heinrich and Jagger Schaendorf, coach Braeton Ardell
Forestry – Justin Hancock and Seth Hansen, coaches Kelly Goward and Heather Varboncoeur
Sixth Place – 6 points
WiFi Lab – Seth Hansen and Joseph Mazor, coach Greg Huizenga
Eighth Place – 8 points
Forensics – Cale Currie and Sydney Kroll, coach Melissa Jaeger
Write It Do It – Cale Currie and Kyla Streng, coach Luke Anderson
Tenth Place – 10 points
Bridge – Joseph Mazor and Jagger Schaendorf, coach Bob Monetza
Rocks and Minerals – Hannah Black and Seth Hansen, coach George Jaeger
Eleventh Place – 11 points
Flight – Justin Hancock and Ben Heinrich, coach Noah Van Abbema
Twelfth Place – 12 points
Codebusters – Hannah Black, Cale Currie and Kyla Streng, coach John Mauro
Thirteenth Place – (no points, trial event)
Agricultural Science – Jesse Perraut and Kevin Sahr
Sixteenth Place – 16 points
Experimental Design – Connor Gabel, Seth Hansen and Josephine Morse, coaches David Funk and Kyle Funk
Eighteenth Place – 18 points
Disease Detectives – Connor Gabel and Jagger Schaendorf, coach Julie Olson
Twenty-second Place – 22 points
It’s About Time – Seth Hansen and Joseph Mazor, coach Bob Monetza
Twenty-ninth Place – 29 points
Anatomy and Physiology – Gordon Schneider and Kyla Streng, coach Wayne Schneider
Astronomy – Joseph Mazor and Jagger Schaendorf, coach Braeton Ardell
Dynamic Planet – Ryan Bell and Connor Gabel, coach Nick Vlietstra
Remote Sensing – Benjamin Heinrich and Jagger Schaendorf, coach John Richardson
Write It CAD It (no points, trial event) – Evie Bauer and Ann Leitgeb
Thirty-first Place – 31 points
Environmental Chemistry – Hannah Black and Cale Currie, coach Margaret Shay
Thirty-seventh Place – 37 points
Cell Biology – Justin Hancock and Kyla Streng, coach Luke Anderson
Forty-first Place – 41 points
Chemistry Lab – Hannah Black and Cale Currie, coach Daniel Newton
Forty-fifth Place – 45 points
Detector Building – Seth Hansen and Joseph Mazor, coach Eric Dykstra
Other team members include Nathan Burns, Kaia DeSchaaf, Kari Taylor and Amelia Tran.
