The Science Olympiad team closed off their season on April 26 at the state tournament held at the Ohio State University, where they finished in fourth place, tying last year’s record-breaking finish. 

The team, led by captains senior Henrik Burda, senior Sophia Yan, and junior Tony Zheng along with coach Dr. Rakhee Banerjee, worked hard all season participating in numerous invitational competitions before placing second at Regionals held at Rocky River on March 8 and qualifying for states.

Science Olympiad contains two types of competitions: building and study events. To prepare for tournaments, each team member spends time either working on building and testing projects or studying and writing notes for their study event. 

Coach Banerjee emphasized that the success of the team is a result of the members’ collective hard work. 

“We have outstanding students [on our team], and that is why we are so strong and are able to do well,” she said. “It does matter the time a student is willing to put in, their dedication and their motivation.”

Science Olympiad competitions consist of 22 different events and last a full day. Each team is limited to 15 members, and together they must participate in the events so each member participates in two or three. The team this year included about 26 kids; however, only one team could advance to states. 

 Banerjee  shared the process of assigning events.

“The first thing we do is have the kids [indicate] their interests,” she said. “Then I take the lead and assign events to students. Then once they know what events they are doing they start their research, start taking notes and start building stuff.” 

At the state tournament the team placed in about nine events and finished fourth place overall out of 47 teams. 

Some of the event placings included: Tony Zheng and Junbo Wang first place in chemistry lab, Henrik Burda and Tony Zheng second in material science, Leo Wang, Sophia Yan, and Joseph Mo took third place in code busters, Jumbo Wang and Amy Zhou took fourth place in anatomy and physiology and Sophia Yan and Leo Wang took fourth in air trajectory. 

Banerjee hopes to see the team grow next year both in numbers and  levels of commitment. She also hopes to get parents more involved. 

“We definitely need to improve on our attendance because it’s very rare that I will see all 15 kids [at practice] because they don’t come, come late or leave early,” she said. 

She also explained that each team is required to bring a certain number of parent volunteers, and when that requirement is not met the team gets a five point penalty and a lot more work falls onto her. 

While she is graduating this year, captain Sophia Yan shared her goals for the team. 

“I want the team to be more successful, so hopefully one year we can qualify for nationals [by winning] first or second place at states,” she said. “I also want the team to be more connected with each other and more friendly because it becomes very competitive.”

Junior captain Tony Zheng shared his goals for both himself as captain and for the team as a whole.

“[I hope to be] a more supportive captain and help the freshmen get passionate about the team,” he wrote in an email. 

His goal for the team as a whole next year is to place third overall at states and beat Centerville High School.