One of South Windsor High School’s most prolific clubs is Science Olympiad. This club is a place where students have the opportunity to participate and compete in science competitions.
Next Weekend on Saturday the 13th, the Science Olympiad Team will have their first competition hosted here at South Windsor High School. This is the school’s second year hosting the invitational.
In Science Olympiad there are many different types of projects you can compete in like Disease Detectives where you determine certain diseases based on certain symptoms, Anatomy and Physiology, Helicopter where you build a helicopter and fly it, Robot Tour where you build and program a robot, lab events like Forensics where you solve a fictional crime using their own results from a number of various scientific experiments, and Chemistry Lab where you test chemistry knowledge through experiments.
After a very successful first year advisor Joshua Kraus told The Prowl there are high hopes for this year.
“The first year was a big success and brought in about 25 teams. This year we have 36 teams coming to compete. The Goal is to help experienced team members gain valuable experience in understanding how a competition runs and really understanding their events” said Kraus.
With South Windsor having the ability to host, they get to see the competition unfold from a different standpoint. “This year all of the events are being written and coordinated by SWHS students which means they are studying their events at a deeper level to prepare and write quality questions for the visiting teams” Kraus told The Prowl.
From a students perspective hosting the competition lets them have more of a leading role. “You get to see the other side of the competition, meaning the logistics, the test writing, the scoring and more” Junior and Associate Captain of Science Olympiad Dhanya Sanakkayala told The Prowl.
During the competition each project gets scored in hopes that they will gain enough points to place at that specific competition. Teams compete in these events and then they’re given placements, like 1st, 2nd etc, for each event that they compete in. At the end of the competition they get added up and the team with the lowest score would be the highest placed team and receive a trophy. Individual placements in events are given medals for the first few placements. Every event is a partner event, and for a few it’s a 3-person event, so it’s really a lot of teamwork that gets you there.
A new segment in the competition they implemented this year is a hovercraft category where they make hovercrafts and they have different length requirements to see whose goes the furthest. This photo above shows a project where the students used a fan and different wires to connect the air produced from the fan to the empty bag below it to make it float.
Many members of Science Olympiad are especially excited for this upcoming competition. Sophomore Anjani Nadimpalli who has been on the team for two years is excited for the competition to start. “I’m most excited to work with my team and compete in my events. I’m really hoping that we do well enough to place, Nadimpalli told The Prowl.
Sanakkayala also said she was super excited for the upcoming season. “ I’m personally super excited for the new invitationals that we’re set to attend this year in January and February. It’s always fun getting to travel to new places and meeting new people and competing, Sanakkayala told The Prowl.
With many fun and exciting new things happening this season, it will truly be a one to remember for the Science Olympiad Team.
