The UHS Science Olympiad team placed second at the Orange County Regionals Science Olympiad competition on Feb. 26, 2022, once again ranking UHS among the top science olympiad programs in the county.

The team put in consistent effort to prepare during the months leading up to the event.

“We spent September through February studying, building, bonding, practicing and attending invitationals,” team co-captain Aniyah Shen said.

The team’s success was attributable to both its strong leadership and the remarkable talent of many different students who participated.

“With so many moving parts and unique events, SCIOLY truly is a team endeavor that synthesizes the talents and interests of a diverse group of science lovers,” Shen said. “I believe our improvement as a team this year through a rather different and difficult competition model most concretely reflects the efforts and impact of myself and my co-captain, Robert Ni.”

Teammates reflected on their experience as well as the support they received from their teammates.

“I am proud of being a part of a team effort,” sophomore Howard Ji said. “It’s gratifying knowing that I contributed to the overall team effort to earn 2nd. Talking with others between your events really helps calm your nerves and leads to a vibrant atmosphere and it felt uplifting knowing someone was there to kind [of] back you up.”

Though the team’s participation in the competition resulted in success, teammates still acknowledged their room for improvement. 

“For future competitions, we will self-study more and find more time to practice with our partners to get used to the structure of the competition earlier on in the season,” Ji said.

The Science Olympiad Team consisted of members: Hannah Kusumo (Fr.), Miles Hexun (Fr.), Sara Yu (Fr.), Victor Li (Fr.), Yufei Chen (Fr.), Zach Piedad (Fr.), Charles Tian (So.), Devin Chan (So.), Howard Ji (So.), Jessie Chen (So.), Julianne Wu (So.), Nikki Azarafza (So.), Om Kamat (So.), Tanush Paradeshi (So.), Wendy Cao (So.), Alyssa Tang (Jr.), Aniyah Shen (Jr.), Ben Fan (Jr.), Elizabeth Li (Jr.), Gram Nylen (Jr.), Jerry Jiang (Jr.), Mae King (Jr.), Minh Trinh (Jr.), Alicia Lin (Sr.), Ethan Lai (Sr.), Grace Jin (Sr.), Natasha Le (Sr.), Rishauv Kar-Roy (Sr.), Robert Ni (Sr.) and Yuchan Yang (Sr.).