Science Olympiad placed fifth in their first competition of the season at the Wolfpack Invitational, which took place at Great Oak High on Dec. 16. Competing against 26 other teams from across Southern California, notable finishes in the 23 events not only helped lower the teams’ overall scores but also prepared them for future invitationals.
In Science Olympiad, each member typically studies two or three events that focus on different STEM topics, such as environmental science or aerospace, and takes tests or builds projects relating to those topics. The higher students place in their respective events, the lower the team’s score is, helping them rank higher.
Finishing with a total of 169 points, Science Olympiad won first and second place in Ecology as well as second in Experimental Design and Chemistry Lab. Although some Team A members missed the competition due to Battle of the Rock Bands, members of Team B — the alternate team — filled the roles well, according to club administrator and senior Ian Yoon.
“It went well considering that it was our first tournament of the year, and that it was the Saturday before finals week,” sophomore Alina Samiullah said. “I think it showed us what we needed. The tests were harder than I thought and really specific, which was good for practice.”
Despite the conceptually challenging nature of the events, the team finds invitationals to be fulfilling due to the collaborative aspects of the tests and the bonding moments between rotations, according to chaperone and science teacher Meghan Truax. In addition to accompanying the team, Truax also proctored the event Fermi Questions, where students are asked to estimate values to seemingly impossible scenarios, such as “What is the number of meters light will travel in one day?” or “How many gallons of paint would it take to cover the surface of the earth?”
“It was really fun because I had never heard of the questions before,” Truax said. “The kids get to take the test in pairs, so they talk a lot about their answers, and there were very interesting conversations from the students because the questions are crazy. They were so into it, so it was really fun just listening to all of them.”
For the future, one of the team’s goals is to prototype and test pre-built devices more strictly in events such as Experimental Design to aim for a better finish.
“We were strong in teamwork and communication in Experimental Design,” Yoon said. “We’ve had the same team basically since 8th grade, and we’ve become good at flying through the test and always placing within the top three. Moving forward, our team goal is always to get better results. We’ll keep studying and work towards better placings and a top five States award.”
To prepare for the BirdSO Invitational at USC on Jan. 13, students will continue studying individually for their events and meet over the weekend to take practice tests, according to Yoon.
