Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School
| Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School | |
|---|---|
| Location | 25 Mud Rd Setauket-East Setauket, NY, 11733 |
| State |  New York
|
| Map |   Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School Coordinates: 40°56′20″N 73°07′21″W / 40.938910°N 73.122400°W |
| Information | |
| Member of SO since | 1990 |
| Colors | Gold, Green |
| Feeds to | Ward Melville High School |
| Results History | |
| Best regional | 1st Place- 2001-2010, 2012-2017, 2019-2020, 2022-2024 |
| Best state | 1st Place- 2006-2008, 2010, 2013-2015, 2018-2019, 2021, 2023 |
| Best nationals | 3rd Place- 2010 |
Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School is a Division B team in the Eastern Long Island region of New York. Gelinas has qualified NY States tournament many times in the past two decades, with the team forming in the early 1990s. Gelinas has gone to the National tournament 17 times in the last 19 years, place top ten in '06, '07, '08, '10, '11, '13, '15, '16, '17, and '19. From 2000 - 2021, Gelinas had a 21 year streak of heading to Nationals, which was broken after placing 4th in States 2022. They placed 1st in New York State in the 2023 season.
School Info
Pronounced juh-lee-nas (this is very important), Paul J. Gelinas is a Junior High School with about 700 students in grades 7, 8, and 9. Therefore, the Science Olympiad team is composed of only 7th, 8th, and 9th graders, and competes in Division B. The school has a sister Junior High School, R.C. Murphy, and both feed into Ward Melville High School, which also has a nationally ranked Science Olympiad team.
The Science Olympiad team at Gelinas had a wonderful coach (Mr. Vorwald) who always pushed the students to do their best. The new coaches (since 2020) are Ms. Demartino, Mr. Marotta, and Mr. Mutter, and they also push the students to perform their very best while having fun. The technology coaches are Mr. Broadhurst and Mr. Rieckhoff. Additionally, alumni from the high school team, Ward Melville High School, and members' parents, regularly come to help mentor the team. Those who have helped the team includes Mrs. Cutting, Mrs. Ouzonian, Mr. Schuchman, Mrs. Guarascio, Mr. Maloney, Mr. Suesser, Mrs. Flanagan, and Mrs. Yang.
The school colors are green and gold, and the school's mascot is the Patriot (same as Ward Melville). Gelinas formerly had the Vikings as their individual school mascot.
Gary Vorwald
Gary Vorwald was a former Earth Science teacher, General Science teacher, Science Research teacher, and Science Department Chair at Paul J. Gelinas Junior High School. He retired in the 2017-2018 school year, but continues to be involved with Science Olympiad by writing and supervising Rocks and Minerals and Fossils at the Eastern Long Island Regional and New York State Tournament. He is also the national event supervisor for Division C Rocks and Mineral and previously Fossils.
Gary Vorwald is Gelinas Science Olympiad's "lord and savior", according to the Science Olympiad team. He was considered by many to be the reason behind SciO's success. His spirit remains eternally entombed in his old classroom and office where they mourn his departure every day. Although he is not with them anymore, they still strive to achieve and become better in his honor. Gary V was hands down the greatest coach ever, according to many team members. If Gelinas Science Olympiad makes it to Nationals again, their banner will be a life-size picture of this amazing person.
Results
Tournament History
Gelinas have gone to States many times in the past 2 decades. The team was formed in the early 1990's, and went to States at least twice before 2000. In 2000, after Mr. Gary Vorwald became the new coach, the team qualified for States for the first time in nearly 10 years, and placed 6th, winning the Best Performance of a New School Award. Their most notable achievement is being the NY state champions 12 times since 2006 (2006, 2007, 2008, 2010, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2018, 2019, 2021, 2023) and placing 2nd in 2009, 2011, 2012, and 2017. They have gone to the National tournament in 17 of the last 19 years, placing in the top ten at Nationals.
Gelinas have a sibling school, R.C. Murphy Junior High School, which has consistently placed top 5 in the New York State Tournament, and also qualified for the National Tournament in 2021. Gelinas had the best year in their history in 2010, getting 95 points for a first-place win at States and winning third place at Nationals, just 30 points behind Solon Middle School, the top team.
Mr. Vorwald retired at the beginning of the 2017/18 season, however, the group has tried very hard to continue to be the team that they originally were. He will be greatly missed and the teams hope that his name and the legacy he has left behind continues. The team has adopted the motto, "All Hail Gary V, Our Lord and Savior" in honor of their former coach. Gelinas finished in 11th place at Nationals in 2018 and 9th place in 2019. The team's score in 2019 of 333 points was their best since 2010 when the team placed 3rd with a score of 276.
Official Tournaments
| Year | Regionals | States | Nationals |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2000 | 3rd | 6th | N/A |
| 2001 | 1st | 6th | N/A |
| 2002 | 1st | 4th | N/A |
| 2003 | 1st(84) | 2nd | 17th (487) |
| 2004 | 1st | 4th | N/A |
| 2005 | 1st | 2nd (226) | 21st (580) |
| 2006 | 1st | 1st | 6th (387) |
| 2007 | 1st(29) | 1st (140) | 9th (394) |
| 2008 | 1st(49) | 1st (183) | 10th(409) |
| 2009 | 1st (54) | 2nd (211) | 11th (390) |
| 2010 | 1st(39) | 1st (95) | 3rd(276) |
| 2011 | 2nd (47) | 2nd (159) | 7th(368) |
| 2012 | 1st (60) | 2nd (108) | 14th (441) |
| 2013 | 1st (35) | 1st (119) | 8th(351) |
| 2014 | 1st' (44) | 1st(102) | 11th (421) |
| 2015 | 1st (60) | 1st (108) | 10th (348) |
| 2016 | 1st (40) | 1st (103) | 10th (372) |
| 2017 | 1st (44) | 2nd | 10th (373) |
| 2018 | 2nd(140) | 1st (126) | 11th (350) |
| 2019 | 1st (131) | 1st (100) | 9th(333) |
| 2020 | 1st(154) | Cancelled | Cancelled |
| 2021 | 5th (129)1 | 1st (72) | 10th (324) |
| 2022 | 1st (47) | 4th (277) | N/A |
| 2023 | 1st (93) | 1st (161) | 23rd |
| 2024 | 1st (41) | 3rd (129) | N/A |
1: Gelinas was disqualified in 4 events and received participation points in 1 event as a result of New York STAR Program technical issues.
Invitational Tournaments
| Year | LISO | Rustin | Cornell | Blue Dragon | Rickards | HUSO-BSO | Eagle | BirdSO | UCO | High Desert | DSM | Stemboost |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2013 | - | 1st (139) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2014 | - | 1st (67) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2015 | - | 1st (183) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2016 | - | 2nd (189) | - | 1st (37) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2017 | - | - | 1st (63) | 1st(54) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2018 | 1st | 3rd (157) | 1st (78) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2019 | 2nd (80) | 2nd (206) | 2nd (157) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2020 | 1st (70) | 1st(154) | 1st (71) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | - |
| 2021 | - | - | - | - | 2nd(68) | 4th (160) | 8th (397) | 4th (202) | - | - | - | - |
| 2022 | - | - | - | - | 6th (292) | - | - | 17th (628) | 2nd (158) | 2nd (229) | - | |
| 2023 | 1st (149) | - | 1st (66) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 8th (333) | - |
| 2024 | - | - | 4th (120) | - | - | - | - | - | - | - | 12th (457) | 33rd (1162) |
Former Captains
Committee 24-25: A. Lynch, B. Li, A. Petercsak, V. Trajkovic, Z. Yin, A. Aggarwal, T. Xu
Committee 23-24: R. Qiu, J. Kim, V. Ye, A. Liang, E. Liu, C. Hu, B. Ma, J. Haase, S. Wu
Past Captains
As of the 23-24 season, Gelinas abandoned their captains system, and implemented a "SciO Committee" leadership system.
22-23 - R. Xu, A. Xing, T. Xing, K. Dong, B. Haase
21-22 - K. Duong, J. Zhao, D. Liang, S. Syritsyna
20-21 - V. Ye, A. Duan, S. Carpino
19-20 - D. Wu, R. Sangwan
18-19 - I. Ge, N. Carpino, W. Zhang, D. Liang, G. Choi
17-18 - N. Salanitri, J. Segal, A. Cutting