Sixteen Knox Middle School students traveled to the University of North Carolina at Charlotte on March 3 to compete in North Carolina Science Olympiad’s Charlotte Regional tournament.
Knox students competing were Brooks Kennedy, Sarah Burris, Lindsey Jones, Brooks Burris, Cole Goodnight, Joe Steinman, Jake Goodnight, Simon Post, Zeenat Sabakada, Daniel Engwall, Saleema Sabakada, Ethan Knorr, Quson Brown, Cristian Gonzalez, Bethanie Stauffer and Tarik Woods.
Knox Middle School is grateful for the 11 teachers and parents who gave up time over the last two months to serve as coaches for the 23 events in Science Olympiad.
North Carolina Science Olympiad or NCSO is a nonprofit organization with the mission to attract and retain the pool of K-12 students entering science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) degrees and careers in North Carolina. Considering the push for STEM education in North Carolina in general and Rowan County specifically, this tournament provided an opportunity for Knox Middle students to engage with other STEM schools and put into practice what they are learning about STEM. This was Knox’s first year competing in the NCSO.
Knox Middle School represented Rowan County among the 26 varsity middle schools and 13 junior varsity middle school teams from four counties — Mecklenburg, Cabarrus, Union and Rowan — competing in 23 different academic and STEM related science events.
At the end of a competitive day of academic science and engineering Knox placed a respectable 14th place out of 26 Varsity Middle School teams. Special recognition goes to Cristian Gonzalez and Simon Post, sixth-graders at Knox, who received yellow ribbon medals for placing fourth overall in their event, “Write It/Do It.”
Also deserving recognition are Christian Gonzalez, sixth grade, and Brooks Burris, eighth grade, who received blue ribbon medals for their first place overall finish in their event “Reach for the Stars. For their first place victory, Christian and Brooks have received their invitation to represent Knox Middle School and Rowan County in the State Science Olympiad on April 27-28 at North Carolina State University in Raleigh.