Over the weekend of April 22, 2023, the West Henderson High School Science Olympiad Team competed at NC State for the state-level competition. Our students competed against some of the best schools in the state and they gave this competition everything they had. While we didn’t win as a team, we did have some students who earned a medal in their event. Highlights of the event include medal winners in 3rd, 6th, and 9th place. As a Science teacher at West, Mr. Andy Wilson says, the Scrambler was Conner Poole and Carson Hood’s 3rd place win, and in this event, “Conner and Carson had to create a device capable of launching a car with an adjustable breaking mechanism. Attached to the front of the car is an egg, hence the name Scrambler. They were scored based on how close they could get the car to the wall without breaking the egg.” David Montoya and Rourke Sullivan won 6th place in flight, and, “built a plane capable of flight only powered by a rubber band. They were scored based on how long the plane flew,” Wilson explains.  9th place winner goes to Noah Toler and Conner Poole for their bottle rocket where the students, “constructed a bottle rocket out of a 1-liter bottle. They were judged on how long their rocket flew,” says Wilson. Honorable Mentions go to Katy Barron, Leland Biskup, Megan Broome, Merrick Campbell, Annelise Eidt, Garret Poole, Aidan Reynolds, Paisley Stepp, Ben Weaver, And Trey Whitaker. Alternates are Roman Brunetti, Mace Klein, Soren Onderdonk, and Sophia Vintimilla. As you see these medalists and olympiads in the halls, Mr. Wilson would like you to congratulate them on their accomplishments.