By: Lynna Ye ’15
Staff Writer
A small group of Peddie students travelled to the New Jersey Institute of Technology (NJIT) to compete in one of the three regional Science Olympiad tournaments held in New Jersey on Jan. 15. Founded last year to give science-loving students the opportunity to share a competitive scientific enthusiasm with other schools, Peddie’s Science Olympiad team joined other teams from across New Jersey to compete in a variety of different events.
Led by Caroline Casey ’15, the members of Peddie’s team were Soojung Jang ’16, Ross Hamilton ’16, Ju Chulakadabba ’15, Bianca Swidler ’17, Aditi Kocherlakota ’17, and Colby Saxton ’15. Although the Science Olympiad team had more people signed up at the beginning of the year, a limited number of events as well as a variety of other factors caused the team to be cut down.
Jang, in her second year on the team, competed in the event “Scrambler,” which involves constructing a vehicle to prevent an egg from cracking upon impact from a wall.
“Though our egg ended up cracking during our event, I think going to Science Olympiad was a really rewarding experience. I really liked having fun with science at the competition,” Jang said.
Chulakadabba, this year’s Thai Scholar, participated in the events “Green Generation” and “Geologic Mapping.”
“It was very exhilarating watching the timer count down as I hurried to complete my events before time was up,” Chulakadabba said. “I participated in science competitions back in Thailand, but Science Olympiad was a different and very cool experience.”
The results of the tournament were released Friday evening, with Peddie in 19th place overall. The team’s highest placed event this year was Chulakadaba and Saxton’s 3rd place in “Green Generation.”
