Congratulations to the Youth Science Center in Hacienda Heights. Volunteer Alaric Qin and teammate Daniel Tsai won first place in the Junkyard Challenge for the 2009 State Science Olympiad.

In the challenge, each team was given a paper plate that had to become an integral part of the project.

Qin and Tsai’s project was a coin sorter that offered 98 percent accuracy.

Their project went on to the national Science Olympiad in Washington, D.C., where it placed third.