The Science Olympiad team competed at the Pembroke Hill School Invitational on Saturday, Jan. 7. The team placed amongst the top ten in almost all of their events. 

Science Olympiad co-president senior Madison Koester reflects on how the competition went and how the teams did.

“I think the competition went pretty well,” Koester said. “We had several people place in the top six and we had two freshmen place in the top six for the first time which was awesome.”

Though the team did great at the invitational, senior Sydney Downey believes the team had room for improvement. 

“I think we could get better at notes for some events [I know I need to work on them], and just getting everything done well in advance before a meet [such as] builds, design logs, printing notes etc.,” Downey said.

Science teacher and Science Olympiad sponsor Chad Brown shares what the team does to prepare for invitationals like the one on Saturday. 

“There are people in my room working on events every day of the week, but Tuesday and Wednesday are our two biggest practices,” Brown said. “Some people are studying and making notes for test events while build events are being put together and tested.”

The team placed in the top ten out of over two dozen schools. Koester explains the specific event placings.

“Overall we placed eighth out of 28 schools,” Koester said. “The team medaled in six events with fourth place in Chemistry Lab, fourth in Codebusters, third in Detector Building, fifth in Flight, sixth in Forensics and fifth in It’s About Time. We also placed in the top ten in six other events.”

There are currently 20 students on the team and senior Sydney Downey thinks that they have a good team dynamic. 

“I think at this point, since we have had a few invitationals and practice together, everyone is pretty comfortable on the team and their events, which makes the team work together and understand each other better,” Downey said.