Camden Central School District -

When the New York State Division B Science Olympiad begins in April, there will be a new team in the mix. Camden Middle School will have an entry to attend that competition for the first time ever after an impressive third place finish at the Mid State Division B Regional held at Cicero North Syracuse on Saturday March 8th.

The Blue Devils placed third in the team competition with 151 total points and 17 total medals earned out of 23 events. The top eight entries in each event earned a medal.

Headlining the team’s efforts was a second place finish in the event titled “Mission: Possible.” Each year, the object of that event is to build a Rube Goldberg-style machine that completes required start and finishing actions, while also completing a variety of other actions along the way that are required. Some are very specific in nature, while others may get a broader interpretation.

Camden’s lone third place event finish came in the Helicopter event, where the goal was to engineer and build a rubber band-powered helicopter constructed of Balsa Wood, in hopes of achieving the longest possible time aloft.

Five fourth place finishes were in the cards, with the Blue Devils securing that place in the Wind Power, Tower, Scrambler, Microbe Mission, and Experimental Design events. Camden’s Air Trajectory entry placed in the fifth spot.

A swath of six sixth-place finishes did a lot to keep Camden ahead of their peers, namely their fellow state contenders from North Syracuse and Bishop Ludden. The Blue Devils were sixth in Crime Busters, Disease Detectives, Entomology, Metric Mastery, Optics, and Potions & Poisons. Rounding out their podium finishes were a seventh place finish in ecology, and eighth place finishes in Meteorology and Dynamic Planet.

Team members participating in this historic achievement include Drew Collins, Michael Guhin, Zeke Henderson, Owen Morrison, HadleyRose Pickett, Max Scholz, Julian Shepherd, Westyn Shepherd, Adalyn Whitby and Emma Wilson.

The Blue Devils now turn their focus to State Level competition, which will be held on April 4th and 5th at East Syracuse Minoa.