Thirty students from the UHS Science Olympiad team demonstrated exceptional teamwork and scientific expertise at the UC Riverside Highlander Tournament, earning an overall sixth-place finish in a highly competitive field on Saturday, Jan. 11.
Science Olympiad is an academic track meet where students from all science disciplines compete to place the highest in their respective events and as a team overall. In teams of two or three on each event, 15 people on each Science Olympiad team compete to earn a ranking. The 23 possible events cover in-depth scientific fields such as life science, Earth science, physical science, engineering and scientific inquiry.
The UC Riverside Highlander Tournament was the first in-person tournament of the school year. The team spent the entire day on campus, from 6 a.m. to 10 p.m.
“The most rewarding part of this tournament was spending a whole day competing and spending time with my friends in events that we are all passionate about,” junior Sarah Xiong said.
While eating dinner together, the team also enjoyed non-academic periods, such as hype-up karaoke sessions and games.
The rigorous schedule would not have been possible without the dedication of the team’s captains, senior Miles Hexun and junior Angelina Yan. With the guidance of their coaches and advisors, Mr. David Night and Mr. Nick Brighton, the captains managed all aspects of team logistics, including hosting weekly practice sessions, finding tournaments to compete in, organizing transportation and handling the club’s finances.
At the beginning of the school year, Hexun directly selected 30 people to join the Science Olympiad team and subsequently assigned them to the events where they would compete.
“I am committed as captain to always provide emotional support to my team members to ensure that they can continually grow in their scientific skills and fully participate in [the] UHS vivid STEM community,” Hexun said.
One of the competitors, senior Hannah Kusumo, delivered an outstanding performance, securing first place in entomology and fossils. As a senior, this will be her last year competing in the Science Olympiad.
“I’m so grateful to have been a part of Science Olympiad all four years of high school,” Kusumo said. “I truly enjoy getting to know a group of people who are equally passionate and enthusiastic for the same topics as I am.”
Students agreed that this in-person competition provided the team with invaluable insight and motivation to further hone their scientific knowledge in the regional competition in February.
“As I compete in the engineering events, I’ve been modifying old builds and collecting data to hopefully optimize our results,” senior Zachary Piedad said.
The Science Olympiad team continues to dedicate its time and energy to improving its performance and further understanding of science in each competition it participates in.
