On March 2, the Islip Middle School EXCEL Science Olympiad team competed against 36 teams in the Eastern Long Island Regional competition. Student participants had been working hard since the beginning of the school year to prepare for the rigorous competition, which included study events and building events. Over the course of their study, the students became masters of understanding the complexities of meteorology, topography, entomology, heredity, epidemiology and much more. Students constructed devices including musical instruments, boomilevers, a wheeled vehicle, a salinometer and a robot.  Islip students competed in 18 events at the competition and their hard work paid off, as they won medals in eight events and walked away with first place in two.

The following events received medals:
First place: Crime Busters – Julia Hormann and Matthew Southard
First place: Metric Mastery – Kevin Lewis and Rob Maguire
Third place: Disease Detectives – Morgiana McDevitt and Matthew Southard
Third place: Experimental Design – Nick Barry, Tyler Cassara and Julia Hormann
Fifth place: Invasives – Nick Barry and Maddy Edwards
Fifth place: Wheeled Vehicle – Chris Guiliani and Kevin Lewis
Fifth place: Sounds of Music – Maddy Edwards and Morgiana McDevitt
Sixth place: Water Quality – Chris Guiliani and Ryan Scheidel
 
The team won fourth place overall, qualifying to compete in the state competition in April. The district congratulates the EXCEL Science Olympiad team: Nick Barry, Olivia Berger, Daniel Canalas, Tyler Cassara, Raymond Dominguez-Vargas, Jake Josefsberg, Joey Kornahrens, Chris Guiliani, Maddy Edwards, Julia Hormann, Kevin Lewis, Rob Maguire, Morgiana McDevitt, Kerry Monaghan, Ryan Scheidel and Matthew Southard.