Science Olympiad has its annual county competition this weekend on March 8, taking place at UC Santa Barbara. The team has been preparing for this weekend the whole year, and it’ll be a chance to show off the fruits of their labor.
Vice president Bhavya Shanmugam spoke about their motivations for joining Science Olympiad, citing the opportunities that came with being on the team
“I wanted to join Science Olympiad because I was drawn to the wide array of science subgenres that I never would have had a chance to explore otherwise,” Shanmugam said. “The opportunity to actually conduct forensics tests on fibers and burn tests on powders to solve a crime is something I could only experience at Science Olympiad.”
All board members take on a heavy responsibility to manage the team. Running a program such as this is often time-consuming but extremely rewarding.
“We have a lot of responsibilities to keep it running smoothly,” co-president Kavya Mehta said. “Including conducting interviews to determine who makes the team, assigning events so that people get to compete in topics that they are interested in and well equipped for, helping all of our teammates access resources and notes for their events.”
After the board creates the team, they spend the next few months preparing everyone for the spring competition. As the name implies, Science Olympiad covers a broad range of topics, which means board members spend lots of time ensuring everyone is prepared.
“To prepare for competitions, we spend five months researching or designing, and constantly testing ourselves and our builds to see if they’re ready for our regional competition,” historian Jake Calafati said.
The team is excited to attend their competition this weekend and believes they could place exceptionally well.
“We have all spent the year working and preparing, and I am really excited for everyone to put their best foot forward at competition,” Mehta said.
