There were at least one hundred people in the same room as the awards ceremony began at the Science Olympiad regional competition. They all watched as Medea swiftly took the first-place prize by a landslide. After months of effort and countless hours spent, it had finally happened.

“The regional competition at UCSB was a very fun experience,” stated team member Ananya Hariharan. “The award ceremony was great because the team spirit was really high, and we won!”

The team holding the first-place trophy after winning regionals.

However, the work and chance for success didn’t end there. After the regional competition came the state competition. While regionals were between just three middle schools in total, state would be against thirty-one other schools. The task was daunting, and many people carried three or four events while other teams had enough members to distribute one or two events per person. Nevertheless, Medea carried on.

“We worked as a team and focused on everyone, rather than working as just individuals,” Science Olympiad member Anvi Sharma said.

Eventually, the time for the state competition had arrived. Against over thirty other teams with much less workload, Medea went there and fought. Event after event passed, and the team grew both excited and anxious, until it was finally time for the awards ceremony.

Medea wasn’t able to win this time, but every member put forth their best efforts in everything they competed in. “Overall, it was a good experience,” Anvi stated, “I enjoyed going back to UCSB for my second year of Science Olympiad and my first at Caltech.”