Lincolnshire honors state champion Science Olympiad team

With their multiple medals clanging loudly as they walked into the boardroom, the members of Daniel Wright Middle School's state-champion Science Olympiad team were honored by Lincolnshire village officials Monday night.

The celebration came just a few weeks after the team — consisting of more than 30 students — placed sixth in the national Science Olympiad competition in Florida.

As proud parents snapped photos from the their seats in the audience, Mayor Brett Blomberg read a proclamation that summarized the squad's many honors — including its back-to-back state titles.

More than a dozen students — all wearing matching green-and-white team shirts — stood nearby and received framed copies of the document as their names were called.

Three students proudly held the team's trophies. A few spoke about how much fun it was to compete in the national tournament, which pitted 60 schools from 48 states against each other.

“It was just a really amazing experience, and I learned so much,” graduating eighth-grader Becca Nelson, of Lincolnshire, said.

The Science Olympiad is one of the nation's top science competitions. It aims to increase interest in science and create a technologically literate workforce, among other goals listed on its website.

Events at the national competition included: anatomy; disease detection; forestry; food science; helicopters; and robot arm.

The Wright team qualified for the national event by winning the state title in its division in April at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Wright students won medals in 23 of 27 events at the state competition.

After the proclamations were handed out Monday, team coach Mary Ellen Buckley had some final words for the mayor.

“Hopefully you'll see us back next year,” Buckley said.