Science Olympiad is a group of students who are extremely passionate and competitive about scientific topics. These students spend hours studying over a topic of their choice in order to participate in competitions.
The competitions hold events and tests over multiple scientific subjects. Depending on the event, members must prepare projects, build gadgets, and know the qualifications and rules of the event they are entering.
The group competed in Regionals on February 22 at the University of Central Missouri, Warrensburg. They took first place over 21 other teams in the C Division of grades 9 through 12. This was the best placement their group had ever received at a Regional Competition.
The members of the winning team, Kickapoo Brown, included seniors Andrew West, Misha McNeil, Andrew Patrias, Richard Le, Kolin Keltner, and Brandon Kwon. The juniors consisted of Leah Martin, Anne-Marie Barbara, Shiv Bansal, Ash Mendelsohn, Ni Hnem, and Gracelyn Fraker. The sophomores were Gabriel Johnson, Tracy Do, and Ayden Jordan.
Thanks to their hard work, the team was able to do well at State this year in Warrensburg on April 26. The group placed fourth out of 33 other teams, making this the first time they have ever placed top five at State.
State is extremely competitive and consists of a total of 23 events and 33 teams. The team’s points will depend on how well the individual members compete.
To place high at a State Competition, your team needs a small amount of points. Earning first place in an individual event earns you team one point while second place would earn two points for your team, and so on.
Senior Kolin Keltner, who was a member of the winning Regionals team explains how the team did at the State Competition.
“As a team, we performed really consistently across the board. We had almost everyone placing in the middle to top end of their events,” Keltner said.
Keltner shares why he thinks this season went well for the team and what they can do differently in the years to come.
“Overall, there was a lot more studying going on this year and the attendance at our meetings was much higher. Next year, I think we could definitely do more practice tests, we were not as prepared for the difficulty of the State tests,” Keltner said.
Julliane Lambert has been a Science Olympiad sponsor and helps to guide members through their season. Lambert describes what she believes led to this season’s success.
“We had a lot of excited students who wanted to improve and learn. We also had some new students with knowledge in different areas,” Lambert said.
Lambert enjoys sponsoring Science Olympiad and shares some of her favorite parts of working with this group of students.
“I think my favorite thing is their curiosity, they want to become smarter and improve. Being able to watch the creativity part of it is really fun,” Lambert said.
Next year the team will be losing a lot of valuable members who are graduating this year. Lambert explains why students should get involved.
“The sooner in the year the better, look for our table at the club fair or our SportsYou posters in the hall. I would say anyone can join, it’s a lot more attainable than a lot of students might think,” Lamber said.
If you feel passionate about science and think that Science Olympiad would be something you want to do, talk to Ryan Hosteller or Julianne Lampert about joining next year.
