The Fulton Science Academy Private School Science Olympiad Team travelled to its first out of state tournament of the season, competing in the Friendship Christian Invitational in Lebanon, Tennessee this past Saturday, January 10, 2015. The team left school on Friday morning and headed to the Adventure Science Center in Nashville where they participated in the “Amazing Reactions” program demonstrating many exciting (and sometimes explosive!) chemical reactions. Afterwards, students explored the museum including the Adventure Tower, Body Quest, and Space Chase exhibits.

The competition began early Saturday morning with students unpacking and calibrating their building devices and making last-minute tournament preparations. After six intense hours of testing-taking and device-testing it was all over and students and coaches anxiously awaited the awards ceremony.

Although there was tough competition with teams from three states and several nationally-ranked teams, Fulton Science Academy students were called up for honors in 21 of the 23 events and was awarded the 1st place team trophy.

Head Coaches Pam Walsh and Gloria Stathos were thrilled with the team’s performance. “Out of state tournaments are always a challenge,” said Mrs. Walsh. “Students and coaches really have to work hard prepare. Packing up building devices for travel is tricky as they tend to be somewhat fragile. All in all our kids did great and had a wonderful time.”

Individual awards were earned by the following students:

Air Trajectory – coached by Ms. Tang

3rd Place – Simon Wang and Andre Hamelberg

4th Place – Christina Wang and Soleil Moffitt

Anatomy – coached by Ms. Doraiswami

2nd Place –Araneesh Pratap and Sanjeev Uppaluri

5th Place – Prajwal Vedula and Sruthi Chatrathi

6th Place – Meghana Raj and Krishna Kumar

Bio Process Lab – coached by Mrs. Uppaluri

1st Place – Sanjeev Uppaluri and Araneesh Pratap

4th Place – Sparsh Kudrimoti and Ameiya Pednekar

Bottle Rockets – coached by Mr. Seker

1st Place – Prajwal Vedula and Akash Bhatt

2nd Place – Faris Unal and Karen Pederson

Bridges – coached by Mr. Seker

1st Place – Faith Lucas and Sophie Richardson

3rd Place – Ameya Rekapalli and Madeline Dressel

4th Place – Sparsh Kudrimoti and Ameiya Pednekar

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

1st Place – Anjali Botcha and Shivani Naraharishetty

6th Place – Soleil Moffitt and Christina Wang

Crave the Wave – coached by Mr. Wang

4th Place – Simon Wang and Brian Shoffeitt

Crime Busters – coached by Ms. Lang

1st Place – Sarah Lucas and Hasan Unal

3rd Place – Maryam Unal and Meghana Raj

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

2nd Place – Akash Bhatt and Prajwal Vedula

3rd Place – Brian Shoffeitt and Sarah Lucas

5th Place – Neha Marupudi and Bella Sims

Dynamic Planet – coached by Mrs. Walsh

1st Place – Mira Mutnick and Sophie Richardson

3rd Place – Akash Bhatt and Chance Crigler

Elastic Launch Glider – coached by Mrs. Walsh

1st Place – Karuna Kumar and Sophie Richardson

3rd Place – Ameya Rekapalli and Christina Wang

Entomology – coached by Mrs. Butler

1st Place – Faith Lucas and Elaine Wen

5th Place – Soleil Moffitt and Madeline Dressel

6th Place – Bella Sims

Experimental Design – coached by Mrs. Stathos

3rd Place – Simon Wang, Mira Mutnick, and Ananya Terala

Fossils – coached by Ms. Beres

3rd Place – Sanjeev Uppaluri and Faith Lucas

5th Place – Karen Pederson and Bella Sims

Green Generation – coached by Ms. Larson

5th Place – Soleil Moffitt and Christina Wang

6th Place –Faith Lucas and Elaine Wen

Meteorology – coached by Mrs. Walsh

4th Place – Sanjeev Uppaluri and Ananya Terala

Picture This – coached by Ms. Fichter

2nd Place – Christina Wang, Soleil Moffitt, and Avinash Pratap

6th Place – Elaine Wen, Ananya Terala, and Sarah Lucas

Robo-Cross – coached by Mr. Kaya

4th Place – Mira Mutnick and Andre Hamelberg

Simple Machines – coached by Ms. Duzyol

1st Place – Karuna Kumar and Araneesh Pratap

2nd Place – Ananya Pottabhathini and Avinash Pratap

Solar System – coached by Mrs. Walsh

1st Place –Brian Shoffeitt and Araneesh Pratap

4th Place – Karthikeya Sriamagiri and Rithvik Konda

6th Place – Chance Crigler and Akash Bhatt

Wheeled Vehicle – coached by Mr. Seker

5th Place – Andre Hamelberg and Elaine Wen

6th Place – Akash Bhatt and Sruthi Chatrathi