Congratulations to the Newton South HS Science Team and the Newton North HS Science Team for placing second and third, respectively, among 54 high schools in the Massachusetts Science Olympiad held at Framingham State University on March 18.  Each team competed in 26 events throughout the all-day event. Acton-Boxborough placed first, as it has since 2009, when Newton North last came out on top.

Note: This post originally showed the places of NNHS and NSHS reversed, based on the report of preliminary scores. It has been corrected to reflect final scores. Hearty congratulations remain in place for both teams!

In the last ten years, a Newton high school has always placed in one of the top three positions in the Massachusetts Science Olympiad, and in five of those years, both Newton high schools have done so. Newton middle schools, however, have not (yet!) participated in the middle-school Science Olympiads. Middle schools interested in entering the competition next year should contact State Director Brian Niece at bniece@assumption.edu.

Destination Imagination is a creative problem-solving competition for K-12 students worldwide that is growing in Newton. Participants gain skills in arts, STEM, project management, risk taking, and critical thinking. Last week, ten DI teams from Newton competed against 60 other teams (500 students in all) in the Metrowest regional tournament at Natick Middle School.  Six of the Newton teams placed in the top 3 for one or more of the various challenges they faced, and three Newton teams placed well enough to compete in the State Tournament at Worcester Polytechnic Institute on April 1.

Over 350 Newton students, in 11 Newton schools, have participated in DI since it was started in Newton six years ago by Matthew Miller, who is now Regional Director of the Boston Metrowest region.  The Newton team show above won 8th place in the world last year! Learn more about participating — or volunteering — at the Massachusetts DI site or email matthew@newtondi.org.