SIDNEY — The Lehman Catholic High School Science Olympiad team placed 19th out of 25 teams in an invitational held recently at West Liberty Salem High School. Schools competing in this event came from Michigan, Indiana, and all over the state of Ohio.
In Science Olympiad, students on each team compete individually or in groups in a series of 23 events that test their knowledge of science skills, processes, and applications in a wide range of disciplines including biology, chemistry, physics, technology, earth science, and mathematics. All schools compete together without divisions based on school size as in athletics. Lehman is usually one of the smallest schools at every contest.
Lehman’s top scorers were David Potts and Michael Largent who placed 13th in Wind Power, and Jacob Schmiesing and Kaitrin O’Leary who placed 13th in Dynamic Planet. Cassidy Hemm and Sara Fuller were 14th in Bridges, Claudia Fatone and Melanie Brunner were 14th in Forensics, and Schmiesing and Sarah Gibson were 14th in Geologic Mapping. Largent and Joe Ritze were 15th in Electric Vehicle.
Other members of the Science Olympiad Team are: seniors Michelle Duritsch, Claudia Fatone, Sara Fuller, Cassidy Hemm, Michael Largent, Olivia Leece, and Emily Reinhart; juniors Megan Neumeier, Kaitrin O’Leary, Joe Schemmel, and Jacob Schmiesing; sophomores Melanie Brunner, Theresa Flood, Ryan Goettemoeller, Michael Wesner, and Hailey Wick; and freshmen Tiffany Behr, Grace Brandt, Sarah Gibson, Alex Gleason, Madison Heffelfinger, Nick Largent, Grace Monnin, Conor O’Leary, David Potts, Joe Ritze, and Aaron Topp.
The team competed at the Western Ohio Regional competition at Piqua High School on March 12. Each student usually trains for three events, but only the top 15 students on each team can compete at regionals.
The faculty coach and coordinator of the Lehman team is Science Department Chair Sister Ginny Scherer. Other Lehman science teachers involved in coaching the team are Tracy Hall and Leah Bertke. Volunteers from the Lehman community who help with coaching are Jim Hemm, Tom Frantz, Gary Schultz, Scott Streng, and Kim and Steve Wenning.
This year’s team is being funded through a Copeland Educational Grant from Emerson Climate Technologies, and additional grants from the Miami County Piqua Community Foundation and the Sidney/Shelby County Foundation.
