Two teams from Lyme-Old Lyme recently competed at the Science Olympiad State Tournament held at Irving A. Robbins Middle School in Farmington, Conn. Lyme-Old Lyme teams came in 1st and 3rd place, which advances the team to the 32nd Annual Science Olympiad National Tournament where Lyme-Old Lyme will represent the state of Connecticut.
The National Tournament will be held at The University of Wisconsin–Stout (UWS). UWS will host more than 5,000 students, educators and parents from all 50 states as well as a dignitary team from Japan during the weekend of May 20-21. During that weekend, a team of talented students from the Lyme-Old Lyme Middle and High Schools in Old Lyme, coached by Shannon Glorioso and Elizabeth Dushin, will represent both the Lyme-Old Lyme school district and the Lyme-Old Lyme community, as well as the state of Connecticut at the National Tournament.
At the state tournament held March 19, Lyme-Old Lyme was called to the podium for individual medals in 20 of the 23 events, and claimed a total of 12 gold medals, 10 silver medals and four bronze medals.
Science Olympiad team competitors include:
9th Grade: Gary Bocian, Brynn McGlinchey, Kylie Hall, Sarah Hayward, Emily O’Brien, Nic Roth, Colin Hallahan, Tessa Allan, Claire Britton, and Noah Crolius
8th Grade: Audrey Berry, Ethan Carrion, Rory Cavicke, Julia DiMella, Corrine Grayson, Mitra Kardestuncer, Rachael Larson, Lizzy McCarthy, Ryan McTigue, Sami Olson, Nate Ramella, Evan St. Louis, Jeffy Joshy (building support) and Nick Fava (building support)
7th Grade: Benton Arafeh-Hudson, Dean Bruce, Kate Cheney, Sadie Frankel, Jackson Goulding, Bella Hine, Regan Kaye, Maddy Maskell, Brendan McTigue and Connie Pan
6th Grade: Olivia Catalano, Jack Conley, Eleanor Dushin, Ahmed Diagne, Elias D’Onofrio, Nicolette Hallahan, Kian Kardestuncer, Ali Kyle, Johnnie Moriarty, Sam Mullaney, Aksel Sather, Drew St. Louis, Nikolai Stevens-Zumbaum and Alexandra Tinniswood
The team is extremely grateful to the volunteer coaches who make their success possible:
Lyme-Old Lyme High School student coaches and former Science Olympiad competitors include: Cole Dushin, Ryan Harty, Kiran Nadkarni, Jacob Olson, Ryan Ramella, and Emma Sked
Community and Parent Coaches include: Liz Frankel, Don Gonci, Greg Hall, Jen Hall, Cheryl Hayward, Rick Kaye, Chris Kyle, Sean McTigue, Tony Ramella, Lucy Walter, John Walter, John Koptonak, Dick Shriver, and Michael Perks
The team wishes to extend special thanks to Ashley Glorioso, Tracy McGlinchey and Sherri Ramella; sincere appreciation is also given to Regional School District 18, Superintendent Ian Neviaser, Middle School Principal Michelle Dean and Middle School Vice Principal Neil Sullivan for their support.
Benchmark Wealth Management generously sponsors the Lyme-Old Lyme Science Olympiad team.
Recognized as one of the nation’s most prestigious science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions, Science Olympiad brings together 120 winning middle school and high school teams advancing from state-level competitions this spring. Rigorous hands-on and lab events led by experts from government agencies, top universities and Science Olympiad state chapters cover topics in physics, epidemiology, astronomy, chemistry, meteorology and engineering.
Science Olympiad is a Chicago-area-based national nonprofit organization founded in 1984. It is dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 STEM education, increasing student interest in science, creating a technologically literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers. More than 220,000 students on 7,300 teams from all 50 states competed in 390 regional, state and national Science Olympiad tournaments last year.
The team is fundraising to help defray the cost of the trip to Wisconsin in May. Donations in any amount that will help the team achieve the goal of representing the schools and community of Lyme-Old Lyme and the state of Connecticut at the national contest. If you would like to donate, visit the team’s GoFundMe page, or send checks made out to RSD 18 to Lyme-Old Lyme Middle School 53 Lyme Street, Old Lyme, CT 06731, marked for the attention of Shannon Glorioso.