Middle school Science Olympiad students in the district’s academically gifted EXCEL program earned three medals at the Science Olympiad’s state competition, held in April in upstate Syracuse. Islip’s team was one of just 35 middle school Science Olympiad teams that made it to the state level of competition, out of an initial field of 233. Islip qualified for the state tournament by winning nine medals and third place overall at the Eastern Long Island Region event in February.

Julia Hormann and Matthew Southard earned second place in the category of Crime Busters; Daniel Canales and Gregory Warnokowski won fifth place in Road Scholar; and Brian Abair and Darienne Rogers won fifth in Wheeled Vehicle. Earning honorable mentions were Kerry Monaghan and Southard, who came in seventh in Disease Detectives, and Olivia Bouler and Sofia Rubinson, who came in 10th with RoboCross.

“This was a great season for the EXCEL Science Olympiad team, and I am so proud to be their coach,” said EXCEL coordinator Julia Johnson.