On Saturday, January 24, the Fulton Science Academy Private School Science Olympiad Team competed in the Dodgen Invitational, one of the premiere Science Olympiad competitions with teams from five states. FSAPS placed a close second to Piedmont IB School from Charlotte, North Carolina, who finished ninth at Science Olympiad Nationals last year. FSAPS Team members medaled in 19 of the 23 events, demonstrating great consistency. Head coaches Pam Walsh and Gloria Stathos were proud of the team’s performance. “This was definitely our hardest competition to date and our students really performed well,” said Mrs. Walsh.

Individual awards were earned by the following students:

Air Trajectory – coached by Ms. Tang

3rd Place – Simon Wang and Akash Bhatt

Anatomy – coached by Ms Doraiswami

4th Place –Araneesh Pratap and Sanjeev Uppaluri

Bio Process Lab – coached by Mrs. Uppaluri

2nd Place – Elaine Wen and Araneesh Pratap

Bottle Rockets – coached by Mr. Seker

4th Place – Andre Hamelberg and Akash Bhatt

Can’t Judge a Powder – coached by Ms. Lang

4th Place – Hasan Unal and Sarah Lucas

Crave the Wave – coached by Mr. Wang

1st Place – Simon Wang and Brian Shoffeitt

Crime Busters – coached by Ms. Lang

1st Place – Sarah Lucas and Hasan Unal

Disease Detectives – coached by Mrs. Bhatt and Ms. Chirumamilla

3rd Place – Brian Shoffeitt and Akash Bhatt

Dynamic Planet – coached by Mrs. Walsh

4th Place – Mira Mutnick and Sanjeev Uppaluri

Elastic Launch Glider – coached by Mrs. Walsh

3rd Place – Karuna Kumar and Andre Hamelberg

Entomology – coached by Mrs. Butler

2nd Place – Isabella Sims and Madeline Dressel

Experimental Design – coached by Mrs. Stathos

2nd Place – Simon Wang, Mira Mutnick, and Ananya Terala

Fossils – coached by Ms. Beres

1st Place – Araneesh Pratap and Faith Lucas

Green Generation – coached by Ms. Larson

2nd Place – Faith Lucas and Elaine Wen

Meteorology – coached by Mrs. Walsh

3rd Place – Sanjeev Uppaluri and Ananya Terala

Road Scholar – coached by Mrs. Stathos

1st Place – Mira Mutnick and Karuna Kumar

Simple Machines – coached by Mrs. Duzyol

3rd Place – Brian Shoffeitt and Araneesh Pratap

Solar System – coached by Mrs. Walsh

3rd Place –Brian Shoffeitt and Araneesh Pratap

Write It, Do It – coached by Mrs. Stathos

2nd Place – Mira Mutnick and Karuna Kumar

On Saturday, January 24, the Fulton Science Academy Future City Team competed in Future City Competition at Southern Polytechnic State University. They won four awards including one of the seven special awards “Team of the year”. Even though it was the first experience for our teachers and students of Future City, they are off to a wonderful start!

FSA team took months to plan and build their city. Before the final judging on Saturday, team was required to prepare 5 components for the competition. The competition components are as follows:

1- Research Essay: Students do a wide research on a predetermined concept and write an essay. This year’s theme was to choose two foods (one vegetable and one protein) and design a way to grow enough of each within the future city borders to feed all of the citizens for at least one growing season. Taking into account your city’s size and location, students must consider the critical elements needed to grow food including light, climate, air quality, space, water, soil, and nutrients. Our team developed a futuristic farming method called SEAS (Smart Efficient Aquaponics System). Aquaponics is a system of aquaculture in which the waste produced by farmed fish or other aquatic animals supplies nutrients for plants grown hydroponically, which in turn purify the water.

Below is a paragraph from our research essay describing what the SEAS is and how it works.

‘‘The initial SEAS design consisted of a large steel cylindrical structure containing an aquaponics farm inside. To this, numerous large fish tanks were added as well as trays where watercress is produced. The SEAS is extremely efficient. All required energy is produced by a solar panel on top. Sensors collect data such as temperature, humidity, light levels and carbon dioxide levels which can be monitored remotely. The collected data is evaluated by SEAS software and can be sent to remote devices. Automatic shades control the amount of light entering the structure to regulate temperatures depending on the weather and time of day. Insulation can also be deployed to protect the fish and crops during winter months.’’

2- Virtual City: Students use SimCity software to design a city that progresses into the future.

3 – City Narrative: Students write a narrative (maximum 500 words) describing their future city’s key features and design attributes. The purpose of the City Narrative is to give the judges a quick overview of the future city’s infrastructure and its public services.

4- 3D Model: Students build a physical model of a section of their city using recycled materials that has at least one moving part. The model does not need to be an exact building-by-building duplication of the virtual design. Rather, the purpose of the model is to give a three-dimensional, creative representation of an area that best represents the team’s vision of their future city.

5- Presentation: Students give a 7 minute presentation discussing features of their future city followed by a 5 – 8 minute question and answer period from the judges (overall time will not exceed 15 minutes). Be sure to check with your Regional Coordinator for exact competition times.

All future city students worked cooperatively for months focusing on different components of the competition. They worked at cabin camps, stayed for after school meetings and participated home tutoring sessions. All of their effort paid off! They won “Team of the Year Award” , “Most Innovative Construction Techniques Award”, “Accessible City” and “Excellence in the use of Building Materials Award”.

Congratulations to all team members!!!

Amisha Darji

Luke Westerfield

Kian Najaf

Shourya Jasti

Sparsh Kudrimoti

Akash Bhatt

Rithvik Konda

Ananya Pottabhathini

Mr. Tuzen and Mr. Kurt