Evergreen Middle School (EMS) Team Green came first in the Washington Science Olympiad State finals on April 14 at Eastern Washington University, Cheney.

Overall, 19 committed kids, 26 challenging events, 38 dedicated parent, EMS principal Robert Johnson and Science teacher Jason Steele made the win possible.

Washington has been participating in Science Olympiad National Events for the past 32 of 34 years. This is the first time LWSD will be represented in the Nationals. Suneetha Dhulipalla, the lead coach and parent of one of the kids helped steer the team to victory.

Washington is represented by only one team and the top team in the state gets an opportunity to represent the state in the finals. This team will be competing against 59 other teams from all the other states in the nationals. This team also came first in the regionals held in Yakima that helped them qualify for the state finals.

The Science Olympiad is an international nonprofit organization devoted to improving the quality of science education. The goal is to create a passion for learning science and providing recognition for outstanding achievement in science education. These goals are accomplished through classroom work, research and competitive tournaments.

Each of the 26 topics is represented by two to three students. The top five teams in each topic are awarded medals.

EMS Team Green won medals in the topics that includes Battery Buggy, Crime Busters, Disease Detectives, Dynamic Planet, Ecology, Fast Facts, Hovercraft, LEAF Challenge, Microbe Mission, Road Scholar, Rocks and Minerals, Roller-coaster, Solar System, Thermodynamics, Density Lab and Indoor Bottle Rocket.

The team is represented by following students. Aaditya Prasad, Aayush Sheth, Akash Savitala, Anish Pal, Anikait Vishwanathan, Arjun Mahesh, Atharv Dixit, Christine Ye, Natasha Murugan, Rohan Iyer, Ronak Jaisalmeria, Saketh Dhulipalla, Sahith Gorty, Sanjay Ram, Sarvesh Senthil, Suhani Nog, Tejas Pakalapati, Varun Senthil and Yuchen Li.