As the first month of school comes to a close, new opportunities open up, and just this past week, our school’s Science Olympiad team has started to prepare for its tryouts, which will take place later on. The tryouts include a written test for the chosen event, and students are recommended to undergo mentorship with previous members in order to prepare, as was discussed in past informational meetings earlier this month. Science Olympiad is a competitive science event, where students can study and compete for certain events under a specific topic. Later in the season, they will go on to invitationals and competitions against other schools in the county, region, and even state.
Starting the new competition season, Captain senior Jennifer Yang expresses her goal for this year is to lead the team to a higher state ranking than last year.
“Fourth place has been one of our highest rankings at the state level. We want to break that barrier and of course, get a higher ranking,” she says.
With a new season also comes new members, as students who wish to join the team are currently preparing for tryouts. A returning member of the team, junior Annabel Wen advises incoming members to put in the effort and be willing to work with others, in order to succeed.
“Make sure that you study at least the required amount of hours every week! Science Olympiad is very competitive, so it is easy to fall behind. Also, make sure you become best friends with your partner since you will need to communicate with them and feel comfortable working together.” she adds.
Because of the rigorous nature of the event, it is also crucial to be passionate about what you are studying for and genuinely want to learn more about it. Another returning member of the team, junior Kenny Liu, highlights the different requirements for each of his events.
“For some events, I get challenges like building the various devices that we need. One event is about time, so it will need a timer, like a literal clock, that has to be able to run for a certain amount of time. For another event, like trajectory, we built a catapult, which was made from elastic material because it needed to launch a projectile. You actually get to use all the stuff you learned in math which is very funny, because most of that is Pythagorean Theorem, or sometimes you have to apply parabolic concepts as well.” he states.
With many large events such as Science Olympiad starting again, it is no doubt that this year’s members will be at work preparing for all their upcoming invitationals and competitions. Good luck to the new members who are trying out, and best of luck to this year’s team!