Cheers erupt loudly on the bus ride back from Penn State Altoona as members of Conestoga’s Science Olympiad team watch a livestream of the state competition awards ceremony. Their excitement reflected months of studying and preparation that led the team to place ninth out of 36 teams at the state competition on April 25.
Last year, Conestoga placed 16th at states, and this is the first year since 2022 that the team placed top 10 at the state competition. They ranked high in many events, including second in Machines, fourth in Disease Detectives, fifth in Dynamic Planet, sixth in Astronomy and seventh in Experimental Design. The team placed second at the regional competition, allowing them to compete at the state level.
This year, the Science Olympiad co-captains allowed members more flexibility in choosing their events. Previously, the club grouped events in packages and members could only compete in events in one package. However, this year the club allowed students to try out for a main package and one event outside the package. According to senior and co-captain Victor Pan, this year’s team also had a stronger bond.
“I think this year as a team we were more cohesive,” Pan said. “We had a lot more team bonding and chemistry, and in a team competition like Science Olympiad I think that’s really important.”
Science Olympiad is a team-based competition in which pairs or groups of three compete in different science-related events and earn rankings based on their performance. The sum of students’ rankings for each of 23 events is a school’s overall score, and the school with the lowest score ranks the highest. Conestoga amassed a total of 296 points, placing ninth in the state.
“It feels nice that (my teammates and I) were able to get that team medal in my last year and my year as captain,” said Vivian Peng, senior and co-captain. “I’ve been here since freshman year, and I really see how far we’ve come as a team. I really love this group of people (on the) team for this year.”
Students tried out for the team by taking mock exams. The co-captains assigned qualified members to teams A, B and C, and 16 students from A team competed at states. Junior Charlotte Jones, a member of A team who competed in three events, appreciates the team-based nature of Science Olympiad.
“I’m very proud of us, honestly. I felt so good about (our performance), especially in Disease Detectives,” Jones said. “We (My partner and I) came fourth, which was a really great placement for us. Honestly, my favorite part of Science Olympiad is just the team spirit in general because it’s so team-based. You can’t do well overall without everyone else really being good.”
According to Peng, success in Science Olympiad depends on every member’s contributions. She believes new members should remember that their effort is important, even if they do not earn a high placement in their individual events.
“I hope that this achievement can let new members know that what they did matters,” Peng said. “Even if they don’t necessarily place as high in their individual events, they still have very meaningful contributions, and they really do a lot for this competition.”
Charlotte Liao can be reached at [email protected].
