Building their scientific knowledge

Hailey Galison and Sarah Keane tested their machine for Seaford in the air trajectory event at the regional Science Olympiad competition on March 5.

Salk Science Olympiad students Isabella Vocile, left, of Seaford, and Brady Peterson, of Wantagh, took part in the Scrambler event.

Wantagh Middle School teammates Will Hostetter, left, and Kevin McBride with the bridge they made.

Salk students Evan Peters and Jillian Smith, both of Wantagh, were ready to fly their airplane.

Sean Dempsey, left, and Scott Brown of Salk show the bottle rocket they built.

Seaford teammates Alexandra Leggio and Nicole Nagengast got their car ready to roll.

Wantagh seventh-graders Michael Minars and Margaret Gates made bottle rockets for the Science Olympiad Regional Competition on March 5.

Seaford Middle School students Joe Abbate, left, and Ryan Demino put the finishing touches on their rubberband-powered airplane.

Kevin Weir and Kristina Karakasians, of Seaford, tested their Rube Goldberg machine. The multiple-step process had to end with a bell ringing.

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Students from across Nassau County came together at Wisdom Lane Middle School in Levittown on March 5 to share their interest in science.

The Regional Science Olympiad competition for middle schools featured nearly 40 teams. Students participated in a variety of competitions, testing items they have spent months building including wooden bridges, rubberband-powered airplanes and bottle rockets.

The three local middle schools were represented — Wantagh, Seaford and Jonas Salk. Members of the Salk team wore shirts that read “Is your school named after a scientist? We didn’t think so…”

“They love this,” said Paul Zaratin, Salk’s Science Olympiad adviser. “It’s an awesome day. The main thing is all the kids are having fun.”

Zaratin explained that Science Olympiad is a big commitment for the 45 students who took part in the competition. In addition to their regular science research class, they also work on their projects several times a week during lunch.

Teams from Salk finished in 12th, 15th and 25th place. It’s top team had a second-place finish in the Microbe Mission event.

Eighth-graders Scott Brown and Sean Dempsey took part in the bottle rocket competition. They had to put their egg in a capsule, fly the bottle rocket and hope it landed without the egg breaking.

“If it goes high up in the air, you want it to come down slower, so you get a better time,” Sean said.

Scott added that he never knew a rocket could be made with ordinary materials, such as a soda bottle, tape, glue, styrofoam and cardboard.

Christina Galiatsatos, an eighth-grader, took part in the air trajectory event. She had to build a machine that launched a ping pong ball at a target a set distance away. “I like the preparation for it,” she said of taking part in Science Olympiad, and the months spent creating and trying out her machine. “It’s fun building it. It’s fun coming up with ideas.”

Wantagh finished 23rd overall, with a second-place finish in Reach for the Stars and a third-place finish in the Dynamic Planet event. Nine students from the school participated, wearing the same “Tagh SciOly” T-shirts their high school counterparts wore at their regional competition in January.

Eighth-grader William Hostetter took place in the bridge-building event. He said he did well, but the bridge could have been stronger. “I learned that it’s hard to build a bridge,” he said. “It takes a long time. You need a lot of patience.”

Guiding the students were co-advisers Kristy Morgan and Ashley Azzata. They described Science Olympiad as a cross between sports and academics, noting that it’s in an educational event in a competitive setting with a team-oriented approach. Azzata describe Wantagh’s team as small but very dedicated.

Seaford ended the day in 27th place, with top 10 finishes in Microbe Mission and the bottle rocket launch.

Eighth-grader Ryan Demino took part in the competition for the first time. He participated in Elastic Launched Glider, in which he had to build an airplane that was launched using a rubberband. Ryan said he was proud to represent his school at Science Olympiad.

“I’ve never experienced anything like this before,” he said, “and I think it’s really fun. Science is my favorite subject.”

Fellow Seaford eighth-grader Kristina Karakasians said she used the competition as an opportunity to learn. “It’s fun because you get to see all the other people’s projects and what they came up with,” she said. “You get an idea of what’s good and what’s not good.”