Posted March 23, 2017

Devon Prep Upper School and Middle School Science Olympiad Teams earned medals at the recent Pennsylvania regional competition at Neumann University. Between the two teams, nine students came home with two first-place medals, two second-place medals and two third-place medals.

Almost 30 Devon Prep students participated in the regional competition among the more than 1,000 middle school and high school students from 60 schools in the region.

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Devon Prep’s awardees included:

— Junior Matthew Siracusa of Newtown Square and sophomore William Rule of Phoenixville earned a first place in Robot Arm and second place in the Towers categories;

— Eighth grader Nolan Ramanjulu of Ramanjulu and seventh grader Matthew Sarkees of Newtown Square earned first place in Towers;

— Eighth grader Dylan Smoot of West Chester and seventh grader Michael Gaetano of Phoenixville earned second place in Road Scholar;

— Eighth graders Dylan Smoot of West Chester and Noah Salewski of Parkesburg earned third place in Bottle Rocket;

— Seventh graders Owen Pilacik of East Norriton and Pablo Alonso of Phoenixville earned third place in the Scrambler category.

Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education.

The tournaments are rigorous academic competitions that consist of a series of individual and team events for which students prepare during the year.

Events balance various science disciplines including biology, earth science, chemistry, engineering, physics and computers. They also challenge students’ knowledge of science facts, concepts, process skills and science applications.