Portola High Science Olympiad Hosts Largest Scrimmage In Team History

Dania Yamani, Sports Editor | 146 Views

Portola High Science Olympiad member and junior Sophia Trinh works on her experiment for the Forensics event. “I think our team is all very friendly,” sophomore Kassidy Winata said. “When we take the test, it’s pretty competitive, but once we get back to our home base of all the Portola High students, we’re all just talking and chatting about our tests and how our days are going.”

Portola High’s Science Olympiad team hosted its third annual Irvine Scrimmage on Nov. 15 in preparation for the Great Oak Invitational at Great Oak High on Dec. 13. This year, the event attracted the largest pool of participants in school history, with students from Beckman, Irvine, Northwood and University High in attendance.

“I think the same number of teams came, but more people from the teams [attended],” Portola High Science Olympiad Advisor Meghan Truax said. “This year, they decided to make it an individual competition, so everyone was testing separately. We also, for the first time, had lab events and actual experiments. Much more hands-on than we’ve hosted in the past.”

With the increased number of participants, all Portola High team members stepped in by contributing wherever possible to keep the competition running smoothly.

“Since I’m just a member, I was mostly just helping direct people if they didn’t know where to go,” sophomore Kassidy Winata said. “I helped out people who didn’t know where the classrooms or the award ceremony were, and gave them directions or just led them to the different classrooms.”

Secretary and senior Alina Samiullah has been a part of Portola High’s Science Olympiad team since her freshman year, attending the Irvine Scrimmage each year. Now in her final year on the team, she hopes that Portola High will work to host competitions other than scrimmages in the future, attracting students of all levels.

“One of the major goals is to host even larger scopes of competitions,” Samiullah said. “People down the line could think of doing actual competitions as well, because [scrimmages] are mostly used for getting data and team placements. In the future, it would definitely be fun to see if they decide to host actual competitions, maybe even open it up for other divisions as well, so we could run Division B and Division A tournaments.”

Samiullah said that the Portola High Science Olympiad team hopes to reference their performance at the Irvine Scrimmage to recognize their weak points and improve their skills to place at the Great Oaks Invitational and state competition.

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About the Contributors

Dania Yamani, Sports Editor

Dania Yamani is the Sports Editor for her second and final year on the Portola Pilot. Passionate about sharing meaningful stories, she enjoys highlighting the people and moments that bring the community together. Beyond the newsroom, Dania loves playing with her cat Leia, going on long drives, and listening to Gracie Abrams. She looks forward to her final year on the Pilot and making a lasting impact on the sports section!

Kayley Winata, Media Director

Kayley Winata is the Media Director for her third and final year on the Portola Pilot. In the newsroom, you can find her sipping her matcha latte or plotting her next cafe adventure with Nina. When she’s not rotting on Pinterest or procrastinating on deadlines, she’s probably struggling to keep up with the reels Zoha has sent her, crunching on Costco green grapes, or fulfilling her dream of becoming her own personal barista. She’s bittersweet about her last year on Pilot, but she can’t wait for what this year will bring!