The Science Olympiad team competed in the state tournament on April 24 and placed eighth out of 30 teams, which was the team’s best finish since the start of the club.  

“I was really excited with how well we did,” said senior Tyler King, Science Olympiad officer. “Despite the pandemic, so many students came in and had great performances.”

Due to COVID-19 restrictions, the state competition was held online instead of at Texas A&M. In the tournament, each team competes in 15 events. Students take the tests; then, the tests are graded and ranked by score. The team’s scores are then added to their overall count. The goal is to accrue the least number of points.

“It is really important not to let one score ruin the entire placement of your team,” Science Olympiad co-sponsor Ryan DePuit said. “It can derail the entire competition for us.”  

This year, all build events were removed. Usually, competitors construct models of airplanes, MouseTrap vehicles, and parachutes, in addition to taking the tests. The removal of these events helped the SciOly team succeed since they had more time to prepare for the tests.

“St. John’s students are great at taking tests under pressure,” DePuit said.

Without club meetings, the team had to prepare outside of school.  They utilized emails and GroupMe to send out club information and held Zoom meetings to give club updates.

“During individual preparation, students tend to discover what they are interested in and then stick to those same events for the rest of the year,” said senior Connie Yu, Science Olympiad officer. 

According to Science Olympiad co-sponsor Roxie Allen, this year, there was exceptional leadership from the co-chairs and the other student leaders.

“This year went really well in terms of effort and commitment,” Allen said. “We hope to keep that upward trend going.”

Since there was not an in-person club fair this year, the team relied on teachers to recruit new members to their club.

“We’re really grateful for all of the effort that our science teachers have put into this club,” King said.

Additional reporting by Natalie Boquist.