As the season of competitions marked its start, UHS students participating in various academic competitions showcased their mastery over their topic of study, put their skills to the test and demonstrated their rigorous academic training. Here are highlights of some notable competition achievements.

UHS Mock Trial Team Wins Champions At Orange County High School Mock Trial

From November to February, the UHS Mock Trial Team competed in the Orange County High School Mock Trial Competition. The University Blue Team competed in the final trial out of the 47 high school teams along with 15 other teams in the playoffs. 

Both the University Blue Team and the University White Team prepared meticulously for the competition day. This involved holding practice sessions and collaborating with teams.

“Both attorneys and witnesses work really hard to make sure our performances are on point with the vigorous practices we hold twice a week,” junior Lujin Malkawi said. “During those sessions, we memorize our lines, have run-throughs and work together on determining theme and character bits.”

As the rigorous competition was extremely fast-paced, it posed a challenge to almost everyone as it required students to think quickly and improvise according to the situation in the courtroom. 

“I think staying sharp and thinking quickly is one of the hardest parts of Mock Trial,” junior and UHS Mock Trial Vice President Toby Forster said. “There’s always going to be something [that] we can’t predict, and we do our best to prepare for that by covering as many situations as we can before each round.”

In the end, the efforts of both teams paid off as the University Blue Team was awarded champion in the final trial beating Trabuco Hills High School.

UHS Ocean Science Bowl Team Places First In Regional Ocean Science Bowl Competition

On Jan. 20, 2024, the UHS Science Bowl Team participated at Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), Pasadena for the Regional Ocean Science Bowl Competition. With this victory, they are maintaining their streak as the team also won first place last year. Seniors Maia Kopylova, Julianne Wu, and Claudia Kahana, and sophomores Angelina Yan and Matthew Feng were awarded first place. 

During this competition, contestants are quizzed on questions on various topics, such as biology, chemistry, physics and math. Students spend countless hours studying the topics, practicing buzzing and working collaboratively with team members.

“It took a lot of work!” Kopylova said. “We meet every week for two hours (sometimes online, sometimes in-person) to practice buzzing. Training our reaction time has been really important because that’s often the deciding factor in winning or losing a round.”

Like last year, the contestants won regionals. The triumph at the Regional Ocean Science Bowl not only exemplifies the exceptional talent and dedication of the participating students but also sets a precedent for future competitions. 

“Everyone has worked really hard this year and I’m excited for what we can achieve in the years to come!” Kopylova said.

UHS Science Bowl Places First At Regionals

On Feb. 3, 2024, the UHS Science Bowl team competed at JPL, Pasadena for the regional Science Bowl Competition. Seniors Nathan Ouyang, Wendy Cao, and Julianne Wu, junior Yufei Chen and sophomore Feodor Yevtushenko won first place regionally. 

Throughout the competition, 20 teams competed in a round-robin style, with contestants competing against every other competitor, then a double elimination. Interestingly, this year’s annual Science Bowl competition featured the first three-team tie in UHS history: the amount of pressure and anticipation was apparent in the air. 

“Perhaps the most memorable moment was the finals – with everyone watching, you constantly felt the pressure to do well,” Yevtushenko said. “Nevertheless, though, we beat Troy [High School] in the finals by a relatively large margin.”

Ultimately, the UHS Science Bowl team was able to break the tie between the three final teams, earning themselves first place in the annual regional competition.

UHS Students Recognized as Finalists At Regeneron Science Talent Search

Seniors Howard Ji and Julianne Wu were selected as finalists in the Regeneron Science Talent Search (STS). Being one of the most prestigious science and math competitions in the world, STS selects from 300 competitors and over 2,000 entrants internationally. The top finalist is awarded with $250,000. 

Contestants entering the STS undertake extensive independent research projects that span a wide range of scientific disciplines, such as chemistry, physics, mathematics and engineering. These projects often involve novel approaches to significant scientific questions or challenges and take months to complete. A detailed research report that outlines their hypothesis and conclusions is submitted. 

“I created a robot (AutoBot) to make inspections of aging bridges safer by reducing risks to human inspectors, while also providing an accurate assessment,” Ji said. “The connected AutoBots successfully detected defects at a mean precision rate of about 82.6%.”

Many of the students’ projects are inspired by real-world issues that they are passionate about and need urgent attention. 

“My inspiration for my project came from the Fern Hollow Bridge in 2022,” Ji said. “In short, a bridge suddenly collapsed, and the root cause was poor maintenance and poor inspection. This inspired me to investigate the inspection process in bridges, and how they could be improved.”

Ji and Wu will be traveling to Washington, D.C. in March to compete against the rest of the finalists from across the globe, where they will receive monetary awards for their outstanding achievements. 

As the curtain falls on this season’s academic competitions, UHS students’ accomplishments stand as a testimony to their exceptional intellect, dedication and teamwork.