Science Olympiad is a science-focused competitive club that has been at VHHS for seven years, and it includes 23 science-focused events every year.
Science Olympiad Assistant Coach and Science Teacher Yon Choi explained that there are different events related to life science, physical science, chemistry, biology, physics and earth science. Each Science Olympian chooses the event(s) they want to attend, and if many students are interested in attending, they take a test to determine who will compete.
Mark Prosise, science department chair as well as Science Olympiad head coach, explained that there are three types of events: study events, build events, and lab events. Prosise said that for some of the lab events, students don’t need to study, they just need to show up on competition day and perform in the lab. However, some of the other events require preparation.
“Study [events are] the ones that take the longest time, because there’s so much time to study and a large amount of content that goes well beyond what we teach in high school and into college-level understanding,” Prosise said.
Prosise further explained that the competitions are time intensive, but the work that goes into the events is worth it. Prosise described that the atmosphere is very exciting, but participants can sometimes become anxious or stressed. People are scrambling everywhere, and they’re typically in a building they’ve never been in before.
“It’s like being a freshman all over again and not being able to find your way around…You see other kids from other schools, running, scrambling,” Prosise said.
Mohammad Yusuf (10) explained that if you’re interested in science, once you figure out what event you’re in, you can make a lot of friends in that event.
“My favorite event is probably [robotics], because it’s unique,” Yusuf said. “It goes a lot with engineering, which I’m passionate about. We also have [to] code the robot to move a certain way.”
Adin Mathew (11) said he has been participating in Science Olympiad since fifth grade. Mathew said his favorite part of Science Olympiad are the meets.
“You get to compete and hopefully you medal, especially [during] the state competitions,” Matthew said.
He explained that the incoming freshmen have been making positive contributions for the team, as well as at meets.
“Regionals usually go really well. We usually win first, if not definitely second, but we usually get first,” Mathew said.
Last year, the Science Olympiad team placed sixth at state. Mathew said state is held at UIUC, so it’s also a fun trip for the Science Olympiad team.
Mathew believes Science Olympiad is beneficial, especially if you’re thinking about going into the science field, as it gives you a chance to experience testing something that you might do in college.