When Nick Sprague was a student at Fayetteville-Manlius High School, he participated in the Science Olympiad, the nation's premier STEM competition which provides standard-based challenges to thousands of teams in all 50 states. "I always liked science and the Science Olympiad helped me find my interest in engineering. I decided I wanted to study applied science and make things."
Sprague needed only three years to complete high school and received his diploma from F-M in 2021. He was an outstanding student and could have gone away for school, but thought Onondaga Community College was a better fit for this point in his life. "I'm not sure I was ready to completely go off on my own. OCC was close to home and enabled me to live at home while going to school."
He enrolled in OCC's Engineering Science program, excelled in his coursework, and was inducted in the Phi Theta Kappa Honor Society. During his final semester he was named one of OCC's two All-State students. He'll be recognized at a ceremony in Albany April 24.
Less than one month later, Sprague will complete his Engineering Science degree. He plans to transfer to a four-year school and major in Mechanical Technology. And even though high school is in his rearview mirror, he remains active in Science Olympiad. "I've volunteered for all levels of competition and helped write a test for a national competition last year. I've done a lot of test grading... I graded over 100,000 questions."
