Rye Country Day School was the co-host and third-place finalist of the 2025 Young Physicists Tournament (YPT), an annual physics research and debate tournament for high school students. RCDS shared co-hosting duties with Trinity School, and YPT was held on Rye Country Day’s campus on February 1-2, with 16 participating schools from around the world.

The top spot went to Cary Academy with Phillips Academy Andover and RCDS in second and third place respectively.

The tournament’s hallmarks are "physics fights," hour-long student-led debates over the quality of each team's solution to the posed problems. The debates begin with the reporting team giving a ten-minute summary of their research on one of the four official tournament problems, and then they engage in discussion with the opponents—just as members of competing research groups at a conference might discuss a presentation.

“Students are eager to meet their peers from around the world and learn from each other’s research. Seeing the process of others helps students understand the problems more deeply, and it is how real life research is done.”
—Mary Krasovec, RCDS physics teacher and YPT coach

A special highlight of the event was the keynote speech from Michael Massimino, former NASA astronaut, current professor of mechanical engineering at Columbia University, and senior advisor of space programs at the Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum. Mr. Massimino captivated the audience with his signature blend of humor and inspiration, as he shared anecdotes from his illustrious career. Recounting his high school love of physics, his eye-opening study of engineering as an undergraduate, and his years-long application process with NASA, Mr. Massimino emphasized the value of education, perseverance, and resilience. The audience was especially enthralled with his story about one of his space walks, when careful use of brute force prevented a Hubble repair mission from being derailed by a stripped bolt. The anecdote set a fitting tone for YPT: tackle all obstacles creativity and fearlessly! 

Dr. Mary Krasovec, RCDS physics teacher and YPT coach, was delighted with the event. “I have been working with USAYPT since 2012, and this was our biggest event ever. Not only do we have more teams, but each team is bringing larger groups,” she shared. Her colleague, RCDS Chemistry Teacher and YPT Coach Craig Burt added, “The thrill of YPT is seeing that another team solved a problem in a completely different way than we did.” 
 

For Dr. Krasovec, that is what the competition is all about. “Students are eager to meet their peers from around the world and learn from each other’s research. Seeing the process of others helps students understand the problems more deeply, and it is how real life research is done.”

Head of School Randall Dunn felt particularly proud to welcome peers and colleagues to Rye Country Day for the international celebration of the study of physics. “RCDS was delighted to host YPT. We are enthusiastic annual participants in the Tournament, and it was very special to hold the event on our home court this year,” he said. For Mr. Dunn, the day’s line-up was inspiring and seeing campus buzzing with energy around research and innovation was thrilling. “I was so impressed by all of the students involved. Having Mr. Massimino address our community and our guests was such an honor. I want to thank YPT for their work in organizing this incredible learning experience for budding physicists. Thanks also to Dr. Krasovec who partnered with USA YPT President and RCDS alumna Katie Sandling to organize a great day for all,” he enthused.
 

“RCDS was delighted to host YPT. We are enthusiastic annual participants in the Tournament, and it was very special to hold the event on our home court this year."
—Randall Dunn, Head of School

Scroll down to review the list of participating schools and the YPT prompts.

Participating Schools
Cary Academy (NC)
George School (PA)
Maggie Walker Governor's School (VA)
The Harker School (CA)
Nueva School (CA)
Phillips Andover Academy (MA)
Phillips Exeter Academy (NH)
Rye Country Day School (NY)
Trinity School (NY)
Woodberry Forest School (VA)
Affiliated International School of Shenzhen University (China)
North America International School - Shanghai (China)
Pioneer School of Kairouan (Tunisia)
Seytek STEM High School (Kyrgyzstan)
Shenzhen Middle School (China)
UG School (Georgia)

Final Results
Cary Academy - 79.14
Phillips Academy Andover - 78.68
Rye Country Day School - 77.60
Nueva School - 76.42
Shenzhen Middle School - 72.42 
Woodberry Forest School - 68.07

RCDS Team

Scintillation Group
Jaymin Ding ’25 (Presenter)
Sam Sah-Nixon ’25
Steven Ren ’26
James Ding ’26
Tyler Hatstadt ’26
Charles Iwanski ’26

Jello Towers Group
Dana Balin ’25
James Song ’25
Xindi Liu ’26
Jason Ren ’26
Rhys de Haan ‘25
Cooper Wu ‘26
Alex GurIon ‘26
Jame Wolff ‘27

Disc Golf Group
Maria Flores ‘25
Leah Steyn ‘25
Davis Clarke ‘25 (Presenter)
Felix Caminiti ‘25
Arav Ramaswamy ‘26
Andrew Eason ‘26
Ari Israel ‘25

Sizzling Magnets Group
Alyssa Chu ‘25 (Presenter)
Dana Balin ’25
Brody Mackey ‘26
Chaaranath Badrinath ‘26
David Kern ‘25
Qian Wei ’26

RCDS Coaches        

Dr. Mary Krasovec        
Mr. Craig Burt        
Dr. Angelo Bove

2025 YPT Problems

Sizzler Noise Magnets
A classic inexpensive toy sold at dollar stores is the Sonic Sound Sizzler Magnets. Each pack contains a pair of cigar-shaped magnets, which make a sizzling sound when thrown together up in the air. How these magnets work, however, is a physics puzzle. Just playing with them leads to a bunch of questions, such as: What is the magnetic field surrounding each one, when it is in isolation? What are the forces, and torques on one magnet due to the other when they are close together? And, of course, why do they sizzle at a particular frequency?

Investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, how these magnets interact.

Disc Golf
The fast-growing sport of disc golf employs many flying discs each with quantified flight characteristics. The most common system rates each disc with four numbers called: speed, glide, turn, and fade, which is usually printed on each disc, respectively, as shown 1 . While there must be physics behind each of these numbers, they are measured simply by disc golfers throwing discs and rating them.

Disc Golf
Investigate, both experimentally and theoretically, the physics of the flight of golf discs with different flight characteristics. Go into as much depth as you can, but make sure to experimentally test any theory that you present.

Building with Jell-O™
Tall buildings must be strong enough to hold themselves up, yet elastic enough so that they bend, rather than break, in a natural disaster like a hurricane or an earthquake. Common building materials, such as steel, are both strong and elastic. However, it is difficult to notice the effects of elasticity on toy buildings made of Lego™ bricks, but not if the bricks are made of Jell-O™, as in the photo 2 .

Jello Stack
Use physical experiments with gelatin, and appropriate scaling relations, to model the stability of real skyscrapers. Clearly justify the scaling relations you used to translate the physical conditions in your laboratory to those in the real world.

A Scintillating Conversation
Why do stars twinkle, and planets not so much? How do modern astronomical telescopes “untwinkle” stars to obtain sharper images? These questions relate to the topic of atmospheric scintillation, which makes stars appear to jump around and affects what astronomers call seeing.

The scintillation or twinkling of starlight can be studied by sweeping the image of a bright star across the field of view of a camera. Even a cell phone has the sensitivity to detect variations in brightness. Characterize scintillation under various viewing conditions. What causes scintillation? Can you model this phenomenon and predict how scintillation varies with atmospheric conditions?