Students who participated in a recent Science Olympiad and brought home several medals were recognized by Pearl River County School District’s Board of Trustees during Thursday’s meeting.

Overall, the students from Pearl River Central Middle School placed third in the state competition held at the University of Southern Mississippi on April 29, but several students brought home individual awards, many of which were for first place.

The teachers who volunteered their time after school to prepare and coach the students for the competition were David Cunningham, Erin Seal, Heather Thompson, Karen Boutwell and Jessica Clabaugh. While the travel expenses were covered by the school, Areojet Rocketdyne provided a grant to cover any other expenses.

Cunningham told the Board that several of the events at the competition were pretty involved, such as the bridge category. PRC’s team was able to build a bridge that weighed only 21 grams, but was capable of holding up 29.4 pounds, earning that team first place in the category. Other categories included building an item out of random everyday things before creating instructions that would be used to replicate the unique item and building an instrument from scratch that was capable of playing an entire song in tune.

The following students placed in the following categories; Bridge, 1st Place, Carter Kirby and Griff Bowen; Ping Pong Parachute, 1st Place, MaKayla Boutwell and Maddi Thompson; Storm the Castle, 1st Place, Thomas Molaison and Cayden Juneau; Anatomy and Physiology, 2nd Place, Caden Hinton and Colt Steelman; Crave the Wave, 2nd Place, Carter Kirby and Gabe Bergham; Crime Busters, 2nd Place, Jett Green and Kaylee Blank; Mousetrap Vehicle, 2nd Place, Aubrie Riordan and Colt Steelman; Road Scholar, 2nd Place, Caden Hinton and Gabe Berghman; Rocks and Minerals, 2nd Place, Kaylee Blank and Jett Greene; Solar Power, 2nd Place, Maddie Thompson and MaKayla Boutwell; Bio Process, 3rd Place Aubrie Riordan and Jessica Powell; Botany, 3rd Place, Cayden Juneau and Caden Hinton; Dynamic Planet, 3rd Place, Thomas Molaison and Jackson Mitchell; Electric Wright Stuff, 3rd Place, Colt Steelman and Griff Bowen; Meteorology, 3rd Place, Carter Kirby and Thomas Currie; Ornithology, 3rd Place, Aubrie Riordan and Thomas Currie; Sounds of Music, 3rd Place, Griff Bowen and Kaylie Blank; and Write It Do It, 3rd Place, Jett Greene and Jessica Powell.

Any community member or business owner who would like to sponsor the team for the next competition can contact Boutwell at kboutwell@prc.k12.ms.us.