This past weekend, Highlands Latin School gave an outstanding performance at the Kentucky Science Olympiad State Tournament. HLS sent three teams to the competition and they all won either first or second place in their event.
“They spent many hours in training and preparation and performed brilliantly,” teacher Anthony Hernandez said.
The competition was held at the University of Kentucky, with dozens of schools from across the state squaring off in various challenges. Our Highlander teams competed in three events in Division B: Codebusters, Ping-Pong Parachute, and Mousetrap Vehicle.
First off, students Ada Stonecipher and Grace Matheis took first place in Codebusters. In this event, teams cryptanalyze and decode encrypted messages using techniques for historical and modern advanced cyphers.
Next up, students Caleb Bryant and Benjamin Lasoi also took first place in Ping-Pong Parachute. In the event, teams design and build three bottle rockets to launch a ping-pong ball—attached to a parachute—to stay aloft for the longest amount of time. Theirs was airborne for a combined total of 25 seconds in three attempts.
Last, students Will Carper and Ashray Neotia took second place in Mousetrap Vehicle. In this event, teams design, build, and test a vehicle that uses one or two mousetraps as its sole means of propulsion to reach a target as accurately as possible.
This is one of the best overall showings our HLS students have had at the Science Olympiad State Tournament. They not only topped Meyzeek Middle School in two challenges—a Louisville school that usually sweeps most of the events—but also completed the weekend with first and second place finishes.
Congratulations to our Highlanders for such a distinguished performance at the statewide level!
