On February 17th and 18th, the Science Olympiad team competed in the last invitational competition of the season at Brazoswood High School. Overall, the team placed first and won 18 medals in individual events.

There were many options to choose from when picking an event to partake in.
“You can compete in “build events” which include building helicopters, hovercrafts, Rube Goldberg type machines, cryogenics [cold insulating] containers, vehicles propelled by mouse traps, and electric vehicles,” senior Lauren Wells, who has been a member of Science Olympiad since her freshman year, said. “You can also do “study events” in things like astronomy, hovercraft, chemistry, herpetology, anatomy, and disease detectives. A really fun one is science word, which is like charades, where one person says clue words and the other partner guesses the science term.”

The team’s remarkable performance was hardly the product of sheer luck; up until the day of the competition, the team worked tirelessly to prepare themselves.

“Preparation is very different for each of us, since there’s a lot of variety in events. Some people build hovercrafts, others study, and some have to do both for one event,” Wells said. “This round, I studied for “chemistry lab” by watching YouTube videos of people perform labs so I got it right. I also prepared for “ecology” by reading up on grassland and desert biomes since that’s the theme this year. For “astronomy,” I usually try to google as many specific facts about stellar evolution as I can. We also practiced setting up and performing random lab experiments for “experimental design.”

Throughout her years as a member of the club, Wells and many other members have had a share of fulfilling experiences.

“One thing that always leaves an impact on me is how everyone tries to help each other out at competitions,” Wells said. “When someone forgets their notes, other teammates help them scribble down more before the test. When someone needs to finish building, three more people rush in to help out.”

By combining fun and hard work, the team was able to pull together for an amazing result. In addition to the awards they received for their performance, the team was awarded a spirit trophy. When one of their competitors struggled with their equipment, the team sprung into action.

“I saw much improvement from my team and I, personally. This was our third competition in a row for three weeks straight, so we were exhausted but this was also our best performance,” Wells said. “Not only did we get first place overall, we got the spirit award for helping another school out when they forgot a crucial part to their helicopter.”

Wells has a word of advice for people interested in becoming a part of Science Olympiad.

“It may sound like no fun taking tests and building, but it has given me some of the best memories I’ve ever had. Everyone on the team is there because they have fun challenging what they know and learn about super specific fields they enjoy but aren’t offered in school,” Wells said. “It’s not just about winning medals. What’s fun is spending time with passionate and hilarious people while also working on something super cool you may do in the future. It showed me what I want to do for the rest of my life, and I’m pretty thankful I joined. I’d tell anyone interested to give it their best shot.”

Overall, the team was able to successfully display both the fruits of their hard work and their impeccable character at this invitational.