On March 30th, several members of Mr. Buran’s AP Chemistry class headed over to the Albany College of Pharmacy to partake in the Chemistry Olympiad. This event consisted of a multiple-choice test with 90 questions that covered a myriad of topics. The Academies students who participated did extremely well, taking four out of the top eight places. Julia White ’14 tied for eighth place, Arka Rao ’14 came in seventh place, Alistair “A.J.” Stair ’14 came in third place, and Ankit Baghel ’15 came in first place overall.
The top two participants from each school were selected to go on to the National level Chemistry Olympiad on April 14th. AJ Stair and Ankit Baghel represented our school at the event, taking part in a six-hour test that included college-level chemistry problems and an intense lab practical. They both did very well.
The next time I saw them in school, I inquired about the lab practical. Both participants told me that they had no problem with the experiments, as Mr. Buran had prepared them for it beforehand.
It was a great honor to take part in this examination, and I myself was extremely happy to do so well. The test made us think and apply our knowledge from all areas of chemistry. We would like to give a big thank you to Mr. Buran for preparing us so well for the exam, and we know that when the AP Chemistry exam comes around, we will be ready.