USCHS team medals in four science events

March 20, 2024

A team of Upper St. Clair High School students were top finishers in four of eight events at the Pennsylvania Southwest Regional Science Olympiad on March 16, 2024, at PennWest California. The team of Sofia Alfredson-Themudo, Jamie Barrett, Augusta Bottonari, Rohan Inampudi, and Yuhong Shi earned medals in Forensics, Chemistry Lab, Write It Do It and Astronomy.

Twenty-three high schools competed in events that covered a range of scientific subject areas, including robotics, ecology, experimental design and optics. The Upper St. Clair students were led by Casey Teagarden, gifted education teacher.

“The high school has not participated in the competition previously, so we went in with the expectation of just trying some events and learning more about the competition for future years,” Ms. Teagarden said. “The team was pleasantly surprised to place in four of the eight events in which they competed. Now, they are even more excited to prepare for and compete in tournaments next year!”

The Pennsylvania Science Olympiad is composed of six geographical regions. Upper St. Clair competes in the Southwest Region, which includes Allegheny, Armstrong, Beaver, Bedford, Blair, Cambria, Fayette, Fulton, Greene, Indiana, Somerset, Washington and Westmoreland counties. Regional winners compete in the state tournament on April 17, 2024, at Penn State Altoona.