Our San Dimas High School Science Olympiad Team has had a lot of success this year. They placed 4th out of 27 high schools at the yearly regional competition in Feburary. Then, advanced to the State Competition on April 12h at Caltech University in Pasadena. The competition at Caltech was fierce with schools from all over California coming together to compete, the competition level rose significantly. Although, the team didn’t end with the results they were hoping for, it was a reward in itself that they were able to get so far in their season.
The SciOly team competed against 30 teams throughout the state. They participated in a total of 24 study and building events which were distributed between the 15 members. Each member took part in three or more events each. Despite the competitive atmosphere, the team remained resilient and were committed to doing their best. Two of their events that placed top ten overall were: Optics that got 7th place and Botany that got 8th place.
Kianush Zamiri, a senior on the team, expressed that it was a lot of fun competing at the state level because of the drive and dedication that other schools showed up with. He remembered watching the process and communication of other groups during the tower event and admiring their composure.
When being asked what she was most proud of, Junior Isabella Marroquin stated, “I feel most proud of placing 7th in optics, since it was the highest any San Dimas event placed. Kianush and I worked really hard on the laser maze and studying optics. We didn’t think we did that well, but we ended up getting 7th. I’m super proud because it shows how much effort we put in.”
Senior Issac Junus added on to that by stating, “I felt most proud of the work leading up to State. I spent a lot of hours on my event, Robot Tour, where you build a robot that can go through a maze without a remote. My mentor and I worked on our robot, ‘Rob Jr.,’ for weeks and made huge improvements after Regionals. At State, our run went really well for us, and we ended up placing 14th.”
Keren Situ’s most memorable part of the competition was the robot tour that the team got to take.
After the long competition day, the team was able to get a private tour of a few of the Caltech labs with some of their engineers. The students were able to visit where they plan their projects and explore all of the different engineering rooms. The team was able to see their planning process and the work that they have done on both drones and robots.
They explored the room where they test fly all of the drones and were able to see actual videos of their testing. Also, they were able to see the actual robots that they built for different expeditions and got to see the plans and videos for sending robots into space.
“Being in Science Olympiad all four years showed me how much I can achieve and opened my view of STEM. It taught me to be independent and learn without much guidance. I also saw how concepts from classes like physics and chemistry apply to the real world. Overall, SciOly helped me build a strong work ethic and a passion for science.” stated Junus
In all, the experience at the State Competition and the opportunity to explore Caltech’s cutting-edge labs was one that students will never forget. This journey has inspired the team to keep setting new goals and setting the stage for even greater achievements in the future.
