After months of preparation, the students of the Science Olympiad team were finally prepared for the Regionals competition. The team members vigorously filled in their bubble sheets while the clock ticked down to zero. On Feb. 17, the junior varsity and varsity teams went to the regional Competition at Mt. Hebron High School, in Ellicott City.

There are 15 students in the varsity team and 30 students in two junior varsity teams. Each of the students tried out with a mock exam of one of the chosen science categories. Based on students’ scores, the captains would determine which students are eligible for the team in the beginning of the year. Currently, there are two sponsors who support the club. “Sanford Herzon and Lesli Adler are super responsible and great sponsors. They always make time to travel with us to competitions and are very supportive and encouraging,” varsity member sophomore Amy He said.

The Science Olympiad team won 10 awards in total at the regionals competition, two from the junior varsity teams and eight from the varsity team. Juniors Daniel Zhu and Amy Chai of the varsity team won first place in the category of Chemistry Lab. The Chemistry Lab was only one of the numerous events that students competed in. Chai was excited about winning a medal at regionals. “I was pretty excited, and pleasantly surprised since we accidentally left a whole page blank and had to answer everything on that page with one minute left,” Chai said.

The Science Olympiad team had many goals for the club for the year. One of the main goals was to beat the competition at states and regionals and hopefully make it to nationals. But most importantly “the goal of Science Olympiad as a whole is to create an atmosphere where people can have fun learning since you study and learn on your own terms and you can learn things about science you would otherwise never learn in a school environment, all while hanging out with friends and having fun,” senior captain David Zbarcea said.