Ever since the first Science Olympiad Meeting, the entire Science Olympiad team has been working diligently to prepare for the Regional Competition in February 2022. The team has since competed in two competitions, the Dodgen Walton SCIOLY in November and recently, the Boyceville SCIOLY in December. As a member of the Science Olympiad Team, I am proud to say all the hard work and hours of studying paid off, as we placed multiple times in both competitions. I spoke to my Science Olympiad colleague, Havon Ha, about her experience with SCIOLY this school year.

Linda: What is the Science Olympiad? Who is in charge of guiding the team?

Havon: The Science Olympiad is a competition with many different events where students can compete in events that they choose and the events that interest them.  Mr. Naka, our team coach, is in charge of guiding our team.

Linda: what prompted you to join the team?

Havon: Last year, I was in the Science Fair, and I was motivated to try something new and challenge myself, so I joined the Science Olympiad team.

Linda: What is the process of preparing for the Science Olympiad competition(s)? How do you prepare?

Havon: For the Science Olympiad competitions, it’s best to decide on what events you want to participate in early on, so you can get to studying or building.  Personally, I like to set aside small time slots within a day to do some research on my event and take notes, because there’s a lot of valuable information and practice material online.

Being a part of Science Olympiad will help me with team building skills and learning how to prepare for important events ahead of time. Now that I’ve competed in two competitions, I feel like I am more accustomed to the process. I am more used to the procedure and scheduling.  For my first Olympiad, I was actually very nervous, but now that I know how everything works, I’m more at ease.

I think I did greatly improve from the first competition.  I was able to successfully compete in all my events and I placed for the second competition.  I also think the team did better this time because everything was more clear and organized now that we know how everything works.

I was pretty excited when I first saw the results because I felt like I did well in this competition.  I yelled out, “OH MY GOD I GOT FIRST PLACE WITH LINDA!” when the award for Food Science was announced. I was just as excited when I got fourth place for Storm the Castle.  I was also very pleased to find out that our team placed second overall in our division, which felt like a great achievement for all of us.

Garvey’s Science Olympiad team earned top positions in their first competition at the Dodgen Walton Invitational. The Mustangs won three second place medals for Meteorology, Mousetrap Vehicle, and Sounds of Music. They also performed admirably in Dynamic Planet and Food Science events.

Click to see Full Results

An informational meeting for this year’s Science Olympiad was held on October 7, hosted by Lead Science Club Advisor Mr. Naka and advisor Ms. Tang-Quick. The meeting was from 2:45pm – 3:30pm. The first competition was held on November 15. Students can download the SO Manual by clicking on the link below and selecting Division B Rules:

SciOlympiad_DIVB_Rules_InfoPage
Select Olympiad Project Topics:

Biology

A.] Medicine: Anatomy and physiology

Timed Exam – 50 minutes, nervous system, sense, endocrine system

B.] Disease Detectives – epidemiology – COVID

C.] Dynamic Planet – Geology – water source

D.] Food Science –  food content

E.] Ornithology – birds – order classifications

F.] Agriculture – #1 commodity in CA

Engineering: A.] Engineering Bridge building – balsa wood, glue, and materials, B.] Electric Wright – electric-powered monoplanes, C.] Mission Possible – mouse trap with marbles, D.] Pong Parachute – bottle rockets, E.] Aerial Scramble – project built on site which reduces the chances for cheating, F.] Code busters – cryptograms

Physics/Space: A.] Solar System, B.] Crave the Wave – sound waves and light, C.] Sound of Music – with scales

Science Olympiad Site (2019-20)