Building upon their successes last year, Sussex Academy students shined at the Delaware Science Olympiad held March 7 at the John Dickinson School.
After a years-long hiatus, students relaunched a Science Olympiad team for last year’s event, where one team placed sixth and other student teams earned places in the teens.
Since then, the student-led and -organized group has worked hard to improve, and eight student teams placed in the top 10 in Division C tournament events. The team is advised by STEM teacher Tim Elmer.
Some students built machines and mechanisms while others dove into genetics and forensics, but all faced very challenging material. Student leaders, including Jack Thomas and Owen Schrader, recruited other students and organized fundraisers to secure their place at the event.
Placing at the 2026 Delaware Science Olympiad are Jackson Marine, fifth place, Machines; Leni Kuska and Kieran Probert, sixth place, Experimental Design; Jack Thomas and Jackson Marine, seventh place, Water Quality; Alexander De La Rosa Lopez and Kieran Probert, seventh place, Materials Science; Kieran Probert and Rocco Buonpane, seventh place, Chemistry Lab; Eva Navitskaya and Carpenter Cunningham, eighth place, Entomology; Carolyn Reese and Jack Thomas, ninth place, Designer Genes; and Camila Figueroa and Jaslene Brunskill, 10th place, Anatomy and Physiology.
Sussex Academy is a tuition-free, public charter K-12 school in Georgetown.