The Horace Greeley Science Olympiad team showcased their hard work, talent, and collaboration at the state competition this year. The team has previously found success at the regional and state level, and hoped to replicate their achievements. In February, the team attended regionals in the Lower Hudson Valley. The team saw great success, finishing in second place as a team. In March, the team attended states and placed 19th overall.
Science Olympiad (SCIO) is a team competition that involves interactive science challenges across various disciplines. Subjects include biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, forensics, engineering, and more. The prestigious competitions which the team participates in take great amounts of preparation and teamwork. Members of the SCIO team spent months preparing for regionals, as they hoped to qualify for states and even advance further to the national level.
Team member Meadow Zhang shares how much effort the team puts in to prepare. “For the regional competition,” she says, “everyone prepared for their assigned events. I competed in Forensics, Microbe Mission, and Chemistry Lab. Each event is different, but, in general, I studied with my partners, used study guides and took practice tests.” Zhang attributes the team’s success to the intense and detailed planning process for each event, and shares that the best way to prepare is to simulate the actual competition.
Preparing for the event is challenging in its own right, but the actual competition can also be nerve-wracking and intense. Zhang says that “[i]t is an opportunity to demonstrate what you know and see your hard work pay off.” Greeley found success in this year’s regional competition, finishing in second place. Team rankings are awarded based on scores from each field and discipline in which members compete.
With the second place finish at regionals, Greeley had the opportunity to compete at the state level. Similar to regionals, a great deal of effort is put in before the day of the competition. Zhang shares that “[t]he preparation is similar to regionals, just much more intense since states is a much more competitive competition.”
Greeley placed 19th overall in the state competition, the highest overall placement in recent years. Notable placements include Benjamin H. and Rudolf T. placing first in Engineering, Andy M. and Albert H. placing sixth in Towers, and Tingray C. and Albert H. placing second in Wind Power.
The team hopes to build off this year’s momentum in next year’s competitions and continue to foster students’ involvement and passion for STEM.