This past weekend, Harriton placed first in the overall standings of the final Physics Olympics meet of the year at Penncrest High School! This past Saturday, February 20, 2010, Harriton proclaimed their number one status after placing second after the first two meets. and brought great honor upon our school.
Who are the legenendary students who accomplished this great feat?  Led by team captain Barr Yaron (senior) were Cullen Balinski* (senior), Devlin Barry-Hoke* (senior), Toby Chu (senior), David Eisenberg (senior), Jenna Glat* (senior), Evan Neill* (senior), Jonah Haber* (senior), Jesi Kim (junior), Pat Lawson* (senior), Joe Musumeci (senior), Jeff Needles* (senior), Kalya Opall (senior), Marec Serlin* (junior), Mike Karasick* (senior), Josh Kassner* (senior), Sean Keenan* (senior), Eli Murphy-Trotzky* (senior), Alex Schupper* (senior), Merdad Khani* (junior) and Selin Sakarcan (junior) who recaptured this title that Harriton has not maintained since 1997.  Those members with asterisks after their names participated in the first-place Problems Relay team led by event captains Alex Schupper and Devlin Barry-Hoke.  Others who deserve particular attention for their first place triumphs in their respective events include event captains David Eisenberg and Jeff Needles (Pendulum Launcher), and Josh Kassner and Sean Keenan (Electric Car Vehicle).  Kassner and Keenan’s first place electric vehicle also won honorable mention in the EEVC engineering design competition.  Other cars submitted by Jeff Needles, Barr Yaron, Eli Murphy-Trotzky, Mike Karasick, and Evan Neill helped the team win the overall Electric Vehicle Team Cup.
With so much time dedicated to creating devices and strategizing for competitions, you may wonder exactly what it takes to be a member of the Physics Olympics team. “We started preparing after winter break, staying after school occasionally to build towers or when we had gym time to practice the relay event,” explains Jenna Glat, who participated in the marshmallow tower competition.
“In the weeks leading up to competition we practiced for the problem solving event in hopes of finally winning it. Unfortunately we did not,” explains Eli Murphy-Trozky. “I have been doing the problem solving event for three years now and I was going in really hoping to win it, though second place was good enough for the team to win overall.” The event was led by Seniors Evan Neill, Barr Yaron, Sean Keenan, and myself.”
Yet regardless of the event, each member of Harriton’s Physics Olympics team has contributed the strength, commitment and intelligence that has won our team this esteemed honor. “The kids knew that they had a chance to accomplish this,” explains Physics Olympics sponsor Mr. Schwartz, “and they were working very hard these past few weeks in preparation. I’m very proud of them!”