BY: ERIN FORD & BRIANNA JONES-RUPP

At their last tournament, on Feb. 24, South’s Science Olympiad team placed fourth overall. This regional placement earned the a spot to compete at state.

“We prepare for challenges by practicing for months before on every Monday and Wednesday,” Makayla Russell, 12, said. “Then we are given the guidelines we should know for the tournaments and study from that.”

Science Olympiad does not have many tournaments, but they are preparing for State in April.

“There are multiple events so there are different challenges for each one,” Jordan Tran, 10, said. “I do not usually know what events I plan on doing at each tournament because it depends on what is available and they change the events every year.”

There are wide category options for people to choose from for competitions. Each person has their own opinions for which event they prefer.

“My favorite thing about science olympiad is just getting to hang out with my friends while getting to do science related tasks because science is my favorite,” Russell said.

The challenges vary for each event, but there is always two people working on it. They change the events every year.

“We aren’t really given challenges at tournaments, it is more or less of a test. We only go to about two tournaments so it’s not like we go to a ton of tournaments,” Keaton Donaghue, 10, said “At Regionals, I was asked questions pertaining to the topic.”

Sydney Epke, 9,  focuses on her project for Science Olympiad. Epke prepared for her tournament by practicing. Photo by K. Fisher