Holton-Arms' Level I and Level II Chemathon teams both competed at this year's 33rd Annual Chemathon on Saturday, April 29. Held at the University of Maryland, the regional chemistry competition welcomed schools from Maryland and the District of Columbia. A total of 41 teams from 24 schools competed with 20 Level I (made up of first-year chemistry students) and 21 Level II (AP level) chemistry teams in the competition; Chemathon teams competed in 20 different events including 12 experimental and eight theoretical events.
On-site team members Isabel Beariault '19, Michelle Jang '19, Emily Willard (captain) '19, Grace Wu '19, Elizabeth Zampella '19, Yalda Zarrabi '19, and off-site team members Amy Ballard '19, Stephanie Hong '19, Maddie Jebavy '19, Maggie Meinhardt '19, Noor Mobarek '19, and Kelly O'Connor '19 enthusiastically made up Holton's Level I team. Their stellar performance earned them a third place finish in the Level I overall standings.
The strong AP team consisted of on-site team members Bonnie Akhavan '18, Anna Haskin '18, Stephanie Jiang '18, Izzy Koff '18, Christine Padalino '18, Jayme Slotkin '18 (captain), and off-site team members Charlotte Butz '18, Emily Katz '18, Brijit Sangha '18, Betsy Schugar '18, Caroline Smith '18, and Ava Weinreb '18. They earned second place overall in the competition.
The Holton teams finished in the top five in 10 individual events which was the most amongst all participating schools, including three first-place individual event awards in: Poster/Level II, Reaction in Action/Level I, and Viscoelastic Bounce/Level I.
"Both our AP and Honors teams faced some unexpected challenges, specifically for the AP team who had to restart their first round experimental event (which resulted in them running out of time). But the girls composed themselves, supported and encouraged each other through the entire competition (which had four rounds). It seemed the girls in both teams took joy and pride in what they had learned and accomplished through the training and competition," said chemistry teacher and Chemathon mentor Xu Duan.
In other chemistry news, Bonnie Akhanvan '18 and Jayme Slotkin '18 have been named 2017 National Chemistry Olympiad (USNCO) finalists. Akhanvan and Slotkin were two of 18 students from the Greater Washington Area selected to take this five-hour long three-segment national exam based on their local exam performance. The exam took place on April 19 at Montgomery College and included multiple choice, lab practical, and essay questions.
Congratulations to these outstanding student chemists!
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| Left: On-site members of Holton's Chemathon teams smile for the camera. |
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| Right: The Level I team celebrates their third place finish out of 20 teams. |
