Science Olympiad Finishes Sixth at the Annual USC Invitational

Nina Krish, Sports Editor

Co-captains senior Ellen Liu and junior Suhrith Muvvala stand alongside their advisor and science teacher Christian Quinteros to collect their sixth place overall plaque earned at the annual USC Science Olympiad Invitational. “So across the board, our placements have gotten a lot better, and we’ve gotten a lot more consistent among the 23 solo events, which is helping us place a lot better this year compared to last year,” Muvvala said.

The annual University of Southern California Invitational made history being the largest in-person Science Olympiad tournament in the country on Jan. 18. Out of 80 teams, Portola High triumphed, earning sixth place overall. The team received a raw score of 387. Highlights include second place in Anatomy and Micro-Mission as well as third place in Dynamic Planet and Fossils.

Science Olympiad begins their season in January every year, with practices every Saturday leading up to invitationals, regionals and state competitions, according to co-captain and junior Suhrith Muvvala. This year, Northwood High, Irvine Highs and Beckman High joined the Portola High in hosting a practice competition on Nov. 16 which helped the team gain experience before starting the season.

“It helped us a lot with creating teams and having experience with the tournament format and the feel of a tournament, so we’d be more prepared for invitationals,” Muvvala said. “So I guess it’s twofold. It helps us with team building. It also helps us with preparation for events and how tournaments are run.”

Every tournament, the team competes with 15 members across 23 events. The placements for all the events are added together and ranked, and the team with the lowest score receives the highest rank. This year, Muvvula and co-captain and senior Ellen Liu navigate their team through competitions while the season commences.

“I really enjoy the communication that the captains have with me,” Science Olympiad advisor and science teacher Christian Quinteros said. “It’s very transparent and they are not afraid to put in the work. Even though I was late the day of USC, they ran around making sure everyone had everything they needed.”

The team has been focusing on fostering a greater connection between teammates in order to create the best results. The team gathered during winter break for an escape room bonding activity, according to Science Olympiad member and junior Grace Li.

“It’s a lot easier to get motivation to study if you are friends with everyone there and you want to succeed for the team itself,” Muvvala said. “So team bonding is a really important aspect that we’ve decided to work on this year. I think [it] really helps because we’re able to get closer to each other and become friends, which helps us, helps motivate us to do work from the team rather than ourselves.”

The team is next competing at the University of California, San Diego Invitational on Feb. 8.

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About the Contributor

Nina Krish, Sports Editor

Nina Krish is the Sports Editor, a Photo Editor and a Business Manager for her second year on the Portola Pilot. During class, you can find her drinking her matcha that Kayley put her on and helping her best friend Olivia with her math homework. In her freetime, she enjoys napping and baking. She is so excited to work with all the new writers on the Pilot this year.