Science Olympiad is back and ready to compete, hoping to win state for the third year in row.
Senior leader Sohan Govindaraju is thankful for the underclassmen who stepped up and helped the team win last year.
“We had a lot of young rookies last year,” Govindaraju said. “Majority of the team, in fact, was underclassmen: about six freshmen were on the fifteen person team last year. Every single one of those freshmen delivered, they won medals.”
Science Olympiad is a science competition, where students compete in all facets of science in different events.
“Science Olympiad is basically the Track and Field Olympics, but for science, where instead of having a bunch of field and track events, you have science events,” senior leader Sarah Thomas said.
Over the past few years, the Science Olympiad club at Jesuit has improved greatly. Two years ago, they won their first state championship and got their second last year.
“The last couple of years, they've won state, which is really nice,” said Mr. Feebeck, teacher moderator. “The first year they went to Michigan, and the second year, they went to Nebraska for Nationals. And although they didn't get first place, they really had a good showing for themselves. I think they're enthusiastic, and are thinking that they might do really well, and get within the top five at Nationals this year.”
This year, they not only have a strong group of returners, they have tons of students interested in joining. Last Thursday, the leaders put together a trial test for interested students .
“The room was completely full when students came in to try out. [The leaders] gave a test to see where the strengths and weaknesses of each of the students were, trying to see who’s best suited for a particular area,” Feebeck said.
Because of these past years of success, the club leaders are hoping for more.
“Go for that three-peat, defend state. And the other thing we want is our second team to hopefully have a podium finish at state. Hopefully one Jesuit team represents the state of Oregon at Nationals again, that’ll be really cool to experience,” Govindaraju said.
Regardless of the success they’ve had, the students in Science Olympiad have fun and work hard.
“[My favorite part is] the enthusiasm that I see of students that are interested in different areas of science, how they all work together as a team and have achieved a lot. I'm really proud of their work, and they've done a terrific job. They're very mature and very dedicated to it. It's awesome to see them applying science,” Feebeck said.
The leaders of Science Olympiad are deep in preparation for this season, having started in the summer.
“We started in the middle of the summer, because at that point we’re looking forward to next year. Like, what are the new events for this year? Where do we want to put everybody so that their strengths are really shown while they're competing? And then once you've gotten on the team, it's kind of finding your place on the team and then figuring out your events,” Thomas said.
The senior co-leaders have been on the team since their freshman year, and they can’t wait to show what they know in their final year at Jesuit.
“It has meant a lot, really. I've always looked to have a team environment, and Science Olympiad, it's a good avenue for us to find, find a good place of connection, but leading has truly been an honor. The past three years with Jesuit, we started with humble beginnings, and then to see the program kind of grow into where it is right now. It's really cool to see. I know it's going to continue to grow with the junior leaders and the underclassmen who are going to step up after Sarah and I are done here,” Govindaraju said.
Science Olympiad has been a very special place to the leaders and everyone else involved.
“The people. I mean, the science is super cool and the events that you get to do, and it’s fun to win, but I’ve met some of my best friends through Science Olympiad. I’ve gotten really close to a lot of people through Science Olympiad, and I’ve loved being able to share a passion for science with others,” Thomas said.
This year, watch as Science Olympiad reaches new heights, hoping to win state for the third year in a row.
