The GPS Middle School Science Olympiad team finished third in the Regional Science Olympiad Competition at Chattanooga State Community College. As a result, the students will be proceeding to the state competition on April 25 at the University of Tennessee at Knoxville.
"This is a big win for us and we’re so excited to be headed to state,” said Lynne Macziewski, head of Middle School, who said the girls’ competition included several homeschool teams.
The stellar GPS team consists of 12 girls: Kinsley Armstrong ’24, Emerson Couch ’24, Sawyer Hunnewell ’24, Ella Harris ’24, Harper Gomez ’25, Gwyneth Parks ’25, Ella Whitaker ’25, Sydney Williams ’25, Ella Beth Wiedmer ’25, and Adreanna Calloway ’26. Team members Audrey Zmaj ’24 and Ebba Cox ’25, who competed at the invitational, were unable to compete in regionals.
“It is really challenging to compete against homeschool teams because they use this as their science curriculum and, for us, Science Olympiad is an extracurricular activity,” Ms. Macziewski adds.
The team competed in pairs in 23 various science events, including Food Science, Ornithology, and Meteorology. The girls earned ‘podium finishes’ in 11 of the 23 events with second place in Experimental Design (Harris and Hunnewell) and Write It, Do It (Couch and Whitaker).