Tom Tolen / news@whmi.com

The Brighton High School Science Olympiad team scored first in the state in one event at the Michigan Science Olympiad, held over the weekend at Western Michigan University in Kalamazoo. Scranton Middle School was also entered in the competition and earned two medals.

The BHS team topped the highly competitive field at the state finals in the Scrambler event. In it, each team was required to build a small car, which then had to travel 8-12 meters — roughly 26-39 feet. The Brighton coach, Shannan Pereira, told WHMI, “They were really excited; the kids worked really hard on that.” A raw egg attached to the front of the car, and a wall is placed at the target distance. The car has to come as close to the wall as possible without breaking the egg. The Brighton High School students in this event were Nate Thie and Andrea Bachelor, with support from teammate Zach Wyderko.

Overall, both teams finished in the middle of the pack. The Scranton contingent finished 20th among the 48 teams that qualified for state, whereas the high school squad finished 21st in the state, also out of 48 teams.

Pereira, who is an engineer by trade, said her charges performed well, considering the caliber of the competition. “I am so proud of how hard all of these students work throughout the season, and ending up competing against the best teams in the state,” she said.

The Scranton team medaled in two events, including the Pentathlon, where they finished in 6th place. The Pentathlon is a relay race, in which the teams were required to perform a physical task and then answer a science question. And the Scranton group finished 7th in Dynamic Planets, which is a written test. In the event, students answer questions pertaining to large-scale events, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tectonic plate shifts.

This is Shannan’s ninth year coaching Science Olympiad at the high school and fourth year at Scranton.

Photos - middle - BHS team. Members:
Andrea Bachelor
Cash Balcom
Cinch Balcom
Abby Brown
Max Catignani
Annika Coatsworth
Nick Cone
Sebastian Cosma
Lilah Dally
Grace Davis
Lydia Fabry
Monique Finet
Mackenzie Goeckerman
Lindsey Gowin
Ysabell Grieve
Ava Hasson
Laura Hatfield
Hannah Heckel
Holly Heckel
Lauren Heffler
Chris Kafkakis
Nicholas Kafkakis
Frank Koss
Cayla Marzban
Ryan Michaels
Ash Nichols
Dawson Nicklosovich
Elise O’Brien
Ava Petcavage
Atlas Reynolds
Sutton Rose
Emerson Summers
Nathen Thie
Celora Walker
Zachary Wyderko
Aly Young

Bottom - Scranton team. Members:
Olivia Babas
Dalilah Beltran
Leonardo Beltran
Jaxson Bradley
Lizzie Brown
Daniel Gotwals
Delaney Harvill
Kahlan Ibrahim
Audrey Kincer
Averie MacDonald
Reid Miller
Alana Mullett
Andrew Murray
Aidan Penley
Jack Risner
Kennedy Skinner
Riley Skinner
Gabriel Szornyi
Lily Tierney
Elizabeth Walters-Ricketts
Sadie White
Leah Wyderko