Kickemuit students excel in state Science Olympiad

Founded last year, the team of young engineers, inventors and investigators wins a host of gold, silver and bronze medals

By Ted Hayes
Posted 4/25/18

They’ve only been at it two years. But members of the Kickemuit Middle School Science Olympiad club showed this past weekend that they’re among the state’s elite when it comes to science and engineering.

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Kickemuit students excel in state Science Olympiad

Founded last year, the team of young engineers, inventors and investigators wins a host of gold, silver and bronze medals

Posted

They’ve only been at it two years. But members of the Kickemuit Middle School Science Olympiad club showed this past weekend that they’re among the state’s elite when it comes to science and engineering.

The more than dozen members of the school’s Science Olympiad Club cleaned up at the Olympiad’s state competition last weekend, coming in second place overall in a contest that pitted them against 25 other middle schools across Rhode Island.

Apart from the overall finish, the team took home four gold, one silver and six bronze medals in a variety of events that tested them in engineering, design, crime solving and medicine.

“They’re great,” said KMS teacher Kerri Krawczyk, the team’s advisor and mentor. “They’re amazing students; this is a passion for them. A lot of kids (that have gone through Science Olympiad) go on to fields in science and engineering and this group loves it so much; it brings such joy.”

The KMS team has been funded during its first two years of existence by the Bristol Warren Education Foundation (BWEF). Last year, the team placed 11th out of 25 teams but members this year excelled from day one, spending much of the school year to this point working on the problems on which they were tested this past weekend.

One of Ms. Krawczyk’s favorite contests was “The Wright Stuff,” in which students were challenged to build a rubber-band powered airplane and keep it in the air as long as possible. The KMS students earned first place in the competition, keeping their plane in the air for nearly a minute. In doing so they beat the second place finisher, Barrington, by about 20 seconds.

Another fun competition involved building a tower that had to satisfy two requirements: That it be light, and that it support 30 pounds of dead weight. Students worked on the problem for weeks and earned a bronze in that competition.

Meet the team

Here's a list of students who competed for Kickemuit Middle School in this past weekend's state Science Olympiad competition at RIC, and how they fared:

Zoe  Rivieccio: First place, "Crime Busters" and third place, "Thermodynamics"

Evan Daniel: First place, "Fast Facts" and "Potions and Poisons"

Chase Jackson: First place, "Fast Facts" and "Potions and Poisons"

Sami Phillips- First place, "Crime Busters," second place, "Dynamic Planet"

Sam Merriam: Third place, "Ecology" and "Road Scholar"

Shivani Mehta: Third place, "Ecology" and "Road Scholar"

Aditi Mehta: Third place, "Thermodynamics" and "Experimental Design"

Otto  Kallfelz: First place, "Wright Stuff" and third place, "Towers"

Allyson Devine: Third place, "Experimental Design"

Alice Grantham: Third place, "Experimental Design"

Cloe Simmons: Third place, "Battery Buggy"

Hailey Peters: Third place, "Battery Buggy"

Fiona Sharp: First place, "Wright Stuff" and second place, "Dynamic Planet"

Ben Bartoszuk: Third place, Towers"

Bryce Chace: Seventh place, "Rocks and Minerals"

Hannah de Jesus: Alternate, fourth place, "Ornithology" (trial event)

Abigail Lanctot: Alternate, fourth place, "Ornithology" (trial event)

Nathan Rego: Alternate, participated in Science Bowl 

Nikki McGovern: Alternate 

Alexander Calvert: Alternate 

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