Primoris Academy Scores Big at Chemistry Olympics

Primoris Academy, a private school in Westwood, New Jersey, opened in 2013. In 2016 it accepted its first high school class. In this short time, it has already become a strong competitor in New Jersey chemistry competitions.

Primoris Academy participated in the 33d annual Chemistry Olympics Competition held on Thursday , May 22nd at NJIT in Newark, NJ. Students from the Primoris Chemistry team ranked third overall out of 28 top high school teams in New Jersey. Team members also received several individual awards. Minkyu Son of Cresskill and Andrew Markov of Cliffside Park placed first in Nomenclature. Andrew Markov and his teammate Joshua Kindler of Woodcliff Lake placed second in Spectrophotometer. In third place for Polymerization Research were Clara Kim of Oradell and Jaime Kim of Paramus.

The students said that the competition was intensive but a rewarding experience. The first-time competitors said that it was fun working with their classmates outside of the school and they enjoyed seeing what the students from other schools had done. Returning students said they learned from their experience last year and used that knowledge to improve. They found it exciting to see how the competition changed from last year to this year.

The chemistry team also scored well in the 2018 New Jersey Science League Chemistry II Division. Primoris Academy placed second overall. Clara Kim came in first out of 523 participants. Andrew Markov placed fourth and Minkyu Son placed fourteenth.

In addition, Clara’s high score in the New Jersey Olympiad Regional earned her an invitation to take the Chemistry Olympiad National Exam. She is one of only two tenth graders in New Jersey to receive this honor. The team is looking forward to competing again next year.