The SAR High School Science Olympiad team won the championship trophy at the annual Yeshiva Science Olympiad Competition hosted by the Jewish Education Project and Lander College. It was the first time the event took place in person since 2019, before Covid. SAR took first place in four different events, second place in one event and third place in two events. Over 150 students from 11 Jewish high schools in the New York/New Jersey metropolitan area competed in 12 events. The competition included events that span categories from physical science to biology to earth science to technology and engineering, among others.

The goal of the event is to excite students in science, provide opportunities for them to compete in their areas of interest and provide recognition for outstanding achievement.

“It was thrilling to see how much the kids put into their competitions and how they gave each event their all,” said Tobie Brandriss, biology teacher. “For the events that required construction ahead of time, like the Bridge and Scrambler, the students really worked hard to prepare in advance. It was also fun for them to meet kids from other schools who were as engaged in the competition as they were.”

Each member of the SAR team played a critical role in getting the gold trophy for the team. Congratulations to Nate Ehrenhaus, David Shapiro, Harrison Brooks, Sarah Papernik, Abby Gertzulin, Jake Goldmann, Jacob Prager, Emma Keresh, Eytan Rosenstock, Emerson Kellman, Shira Gerber, Boaz Siegel, Gabriel Nelkin, Daniel Stadtmauer, Aryeh Hirshaut and Honor Greenberg (team manager).

The winners for the individual events are: Gold medals for Codebusters (Harrison Brooks, Sarah Papernik), Dynamic Planet (Abby Gertzulin, Jake Goldmann), Green Generation (Shira Gerber, Aryeh Hirshaut) and Scrambler (Eytan Rosenstock). Silver medals for Forestry (Jacob Prager, Shira Gerber). Bronze medals for Cell Biology (Jacob Prager, Daniel Stadtmauer) and Fermi Questions (Jake Goldmann, Boaz Siegel).