Science Olympiad: Their Recent Competition

While almost every team at QHSS is focused on sports and physical activity, the Science Olympiad team has not conformed to these expectations. The team competes in the academic Science Olympiad competition, where the focus is placed on scientific knowledge and techniques. The team recently competed in the regional competition, where they won three medals in the various competitions. To understand the competition and the team better, we interviewed the advisor, Ms. Jagdeo, and one of the main members, Zachary Wong.

Daniyal: What activities did students do during the Science Olympiad?

Ms. Jagdeo: Students participated in multiple competitions, including air trajectory, anatomy and physiology, astronomy, chem lab, codebusters, disease detectives, dynamic planet, ecology, experimental design, fermi questions, flight, forensics, forestry, geo mapping, microbe mission, optics, robot tour, scrambler, tower, and windpower.

Raian: What study techniques did you use to prepare, and what was the preparation process like?

Ms. Jagdeo: To prepare, students reviewed their materials and prompts for the competitions, and tested themselves during club time. Other students practiced lab skills and standard techniques.

Daniyal: How did you feel like the competition was in general?

Zachary: The competition was very lively and energetic. Despite having to wake up early and get home late on a weekend, we saw smiles all around. There was a balance between anxiety and hype, and all the hype definitely culminated in the awards ceremony.

Daniyal: What was the day of the competition like?

Zachary: Team members had to wake up very early in the morning to get to the competition venue (arriving at 6:30 AM). Members were allowed to compete in 23 events but we chose to compete in 17. The time of examination for all knowledge-, lab-, and build-based events were distributed throughout the day and all events were finished by 3 PM. After that, team members reflected and enjoyed the rest of their time in homeroom as they waited for the beginning of the awards ceremony, and we were able to pull 3 medals (Fermi Questions, Microbe Mission, Ecology); we were also recognized for being the best new team of 2024!

Daniyal: How did it feel to compete with the Science Olympiad team?

Zachary: Given this was the first year of the Science Olympiad, I’m very proud of all the time and effort most members gave to ultimate team success. Many of us were disappointed that our preparations began 2 months before competition day because the onset of clubs at our school is later than that of other schools, but many of us still pulled through for a high ranking out of 54 teams. To finally set the stage for many future Science Olympiad generations at a school literally “for the Sciences” and see it all amass on competition day with the team was gratifying. I hope many science, technology, engineering, math, robotics, etcetera enthusiasts consider becoming Science Olympians next year!

That concludes our science olympiad feature! The Science Olympiad team is looking forward to working on their next competitions. Even though they pulled a few medals, they look to keep competing to become even better in the future.