HBHS building for the future at Science Olympiad

The Science Olympiad is a competition of science, knowledge and teamwork. This year’s contest was the 27th annual Science Olympiad. More than 6,000 high school teams from 49 states compete for a chance at the national title. The program is designed to enrich students in the vast field of science. With events spanning from forestry to technical problem solving, there is surely an event for everyone. Setting their aim on the nationals, the Hollis Brookline High School Science Olympiad team participated in the state competition at Saint Anselm College in Manchester on March 31. Hollis Brookline placed fifth out of 16 teams, with six two-person teams collecting medals – three gold, two silver and one bronze. Jake Kobylarz, Drew McCalmont and Matt Siebert were involved in winning two medals each, with Emily Benz, Kira Lovas, Vivian Neilley, Elizabeth Davis, Stephanie Burns and Anish Thilager each earning one. Merrimack High School won and advanced to the national competition at the University of Central Florida on May 18. Hollis Brookline coach Trudi Thompson, a biology teacher, said the team’s captains, Neilley and Lovas, did a good job of managing and motivating the team. The only shortfall was “the lack of team members competing in build events,” Thompson said. This was mainly because of a robotics competition on the same weekend, and the high commitment required building for any one of the numerous events. Thompson coached in conjunction with co-State Director John Boucher, of Hollis Brookline, and said he was “very easygoing and very easy to work with.” The 2012 competition was Thompson’s first year as a coach for the event, although she has helped with the program in a variety of ways in past years. Thompson said she would like to be more involved next year after having seen what the competition is like from a coach’s perspective.