Tara Rossbach and Colin Vogel won a gold medal at the 2025 NYS Science Olympiad Finals.

The team of Tara Rossbach and Colin Vogel won 1st place in the Air Trajectory event at the New York State Science Olympiad Finals in April. More than 600 students from 40 schools compete in the state final competition. 

It is a two-day competition where the students compete in 25 different events. Each event has its own rankings and winners. Then the scores from each event are combined for an overall team score. Medals are given to the top 10 competitors in each event. 

“It is very difficult to achieve a gold medal at the state finals,” said Goff Science Olympiad Head Coach Donnamarie Vlieg. “Tara and Colin had to build an air cannon, then accurately shoot it at two different targets between 2-8 meters. They practiced shooting at night when we could get gym time. At the competition, they only get four shots. If their first two shots are accurate, they get to shoot for a bucket shot. Landing the ball in the bucket is rare and gives them a huge score advantage. When Tara and Colin nailed the bucket shot, the entire gym erupted into applause. It was quite an experience!”

Goff won medals in four different events and finished in 16th place overall.

Congratulations to the Goff Science Olympiad team on a successful competition! 

Medal Winners 

• Air Trajectory – 1st – Tara Rossbach and Colin Vogel
• Mission Possible – 6th – Dominic Cunningham and Rei Mukherjee
• Disease Detective – 10th – Riya Malge and Kashmala Sahibzada
• Road Scholar – 10th – Mateo Orong and Ellieanna Pettinger 

Goff Science Olympiad Team

• Romi Esconde
• Castiel Kivlen
• Riya Malge
• Rei Mukherjee
• Mateo Orong
• Dominic Cunningham
• Nanditha Melam
• Annabelle O’Keefe
• Chris Ozga
• Ellieanna Pettinger
• Tara Rossbach
• Kashmala Sahibzada
• Colin Vogel
• Andrei Picu
• Jess Tennakoon

Spirit Squad 

• Sylvie Conroy
• Neil Gada
• Likhita Ghanta
• Luca Lombardi
• Emily Rybakov
• Anthony Santaski