South County would like to celebrate the creativity and accomplishments of the 42 South County students who competed against other high schools in the Science Olympiad regional competition Saturday, Jan. 25, on the Virginia Tech campus. Having prepared for months to take on specific problem solving challenges in the sciences ---- biology, chemistry, physics and earth science --- and also in engineering, these students demonstrated critical thinking, team work and outstanding initiative in preparing for this competition and on competition day. The team has qualified to continue on to the State Tournament March 28. 

We are extremely proud of these students and have been so impressed not only with their love for science, but also with their maturity and consideration for each other. We are especially proud of our freshmen, who were in many cases learning scientific concepts they won't formally learn until they are seniors and who strongly competed with upperclassmen. 

Below are two lists: Those students who earned a medal at the competition and the list of the entire team. Special thanks to Ms. Maerna Kauffman and Ms. Kristina Brody for leading and supporting such an incredible group of students.

Medal Winners are the following:

• Anatomy and Physiology: 1st place: Sara Michel-Le 
• Gravity Vehicle (a building event): 1st place: Niya Gupta and Christine Rolfe; 3rd place: Brian Lai and Jai Agarwal
• Chemistry Lab: 2nd place: An Lo and Brian Lai 
• Machines (a building event): 3rd place: Bethel Daniel and Diya Amat
• Dynamic Planet: 3rd place: Kaitlyn Phan and Isha Patel; 4th place: Harrison Ponczak and Shane Price
• Detector Building: 3rd place: Niya Gupta and Rishika Deshmukh; 5th place: Kaitlyn Phan and Isha Patel
• Fossils: 5th place: Femi Shaikh and Katie Lee
• Ornithology: 5th place: Minami Bach and Matthew McCollum
• Disease Detectives: 5th place: Sara Michel-Le
• Boomilever (a building event): 6th place: Lily Lai and Diya Amat
• Protein Modeling: 6th place: Vista Sedghi, Kimberly Haque and Katie Lee
• Wright Stuff (a building event): 6th place: Matthew McCollum and Pouya Amini

The 2019-2020 South County Science Olympiad Team:

• Diya Amat
• Pouya Amini
• Bridget Appiah
• Alip Arslan
• Lana Asaad
• Minami Bach
• Harshika Challa
• Bethel Daniel
• Rishika Deshmukh
• Selma Elsadig
• Taylor Ferguson
• Bailey Garber
• Saiesha Gohil
• Andrea Gonzalez
• Niya Gupta
• Kimberly Haque
• Hajer Jama
• Asmita Karandikar
• Hera Khan
• Brian Lai
• Lily Lai
• Katie Lee
• An Lo
• Kate-Lin Ly
• Matthew McCollum
• Sara Michel-Le
• Jenny Nguyen
• Isha Patel
• Kaitlyn Phan
• Harrison Ponczak
• Shane Price
• Valmik Rai
• Jennah Raja
• Christine Rolfe
• Vista Sedghi
• Femi Shaikh
• Gina Sharma
• Prartna Shekar
• Tihut Sleshi
• Yohana Tesfaye
• Devika Thadani