If you are in Mr. Szot’s or Mr. Gilgur’s classes or you listen to the announcements, you’ve definitely heard that our school’s Science Olympiad team won three second place medals at their tournament about a month ago! Naturally, some of the upperclassmen are now wondering… ‘Hmmm maybe I should start listening to the announcements more, because I’ve never heard of this Science Olympiad Club at our school.’ Well, you’d be correct because the Science Olympiad Club is one of the newest clubs here at MLHS and they’ve already started out strong!
What Do They Do?
First, I wanted to get an in-depth look at what being part of the Science Olympiad is. For example, what do they do during their competitions? What do they do during their meetings? Is this a cult? Sorry, scratch that last one.
In early January, the Science Olympiad took a quick trip down to NJIT for the regional Science Olympiad Competition. And, they proceeded to take part in… Science Olympiading? Now, this might come as a shock to you, but I actually don’t know what being part of the Science Olympiad club entails, as I am sure many of you don’t. So, I sat down with club advisors, members, and even the founder of the Science Olympiad to get the inside scoop on the Science Olympiad. They explained what the true essence of the Science Olympiad club is. [They didn’t get that deep about it…that’s just my take on things]
So, for the people that don’t know, what is the Science Olympiad club?
“The Science Olympiad Club is an academically challenging club. It’s a chance for people to explore their interest in science in a productive way. They can be rewarded for their efforts. There’s other ways of proving you are smart besides a test; it’s a way of being able to explore your passion for science and engineering without just taking a test because some people aren’t good at taking tests, but they are more hands-on learners.” – Mr. Gilgur
What does the average club meeting look like for you guys?
“So, for us, this is our first year doing this and we didn’t get the club off the ground till two months before so a lot of our meetings were really organizational prep and making sure we had people on every event, and there was some prepping. Like knowing, what was going to be in this event and what we had to know. A lot of the events had to do with teamwork” -Mr. Szot
What does a competition look like in Science Olympiad and how do you guys prep for it?
“Basically, it’s held at a university. You get assigned a classroom as your home base and you get a time table of when to go to each event. And you are competing against another school to try and get to states. And it’s nerve-wracking, because some events are spectator events. It’s fun, everyone is the same age-group. You can mingle with other groups, but people normally don’t. It’s very competitive” -Mr. Gilgur
How did your recent competition go?
“Our recent one was our first one. It went very well. We took three 2nd place medals and one 5th place medal out of the fifteen events. For getting the club off the ground in such short notice, I am very happy with the results. We performed very well. Overall, there are 22 high schools there, and we were 13th.” -Mr. Szot
How did the club form?
Now that we have gotten an understanding of the club, we need to know how this club came to be. This club wasn’t the result of one of the club advisors, or Mr. Sanchez wanting to establish his superiority over other schools- it was the brainchild of one of our own students! Frances Lai is a sophomore and she is the one that came up with the idea of introducing a Science Olympiad club to our school. So, I sat down with Frances Lai, who is the “unofficial, but pretty much if there was a President, she would be it,” President: a title graciously given by the rest of the people at the Science Olympiad.
Do you think people have to be good at science to join the Science Olympiad?
“Not necessarily. There’s a lot of events where you do research and based on that research, you can participate in that event. It doesn’t mean that you have to know a lot about anatomy or physiology, you just have to familiarize yourself with the concepts and that will be good enough to you to do well in the event” -Frances Lai
I know what you are thinking, being a part of Science Olympiad seems like it is a hoot and a half, so I asked some members and the advisors if what their favorite parts about the Science Olympiad were!
“My favorite thing about Science Olympiad would have to be the tournaments because at that point, we just have to go through with it. We’ve already done our best. And during the whole competition, it was actually a lot of fun! You go in there and suffer together! [it is at this point that I chime to say that no Science Olympiad members were harmed during this interview nor during the Science Olympiad].” -Korene Tu
“I think the greatest thing about Science Olympiad is participating in all the different aspects of science, not just biology or chemistry, it’s a mix of biology, chemistry, physics, engineering all put together. Especially to broaden your horizons.” -Frances Lai
“You know what? Of all the things that you could be doing with your time, and yes, I understand you should have time to yourself to sit and veg, there’s some people who don’t want to be on a sports team or a chess team [although Mr. Gilgur does run the chess team as well]. Some people just really want to build and explore science. And those kids who have their chemistry kits or circuit kits or their LEGOS at home, this is a club for them. What I love is that these people now have a place to go and live out their enjoyment in a productive way. And they can get rewarded for it. So, I, as an advisor, am happy that we have given this opportunity to that group of students” -Mr. Gilgur
How do I become part of this?
If you are like me, and after reading this article, you want to know how you can join, look no further! All you have to do is email Mr. Szot (szot@mlschools.org), Mr. Gilgur (sgilgur@mlschools.org), or Frances (flai22@mlschools.org). Once you email one of them, they can get you up to speed on what the club is doing, and what they are working towards. All that is left for me to do is leave you with a funny science related joke that gets your attention, but all the good ones ARGON!
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