RBHS Science Olympiad placed second, only one point after Hickman, March 9. Chemistry teacher Stephanie Harmon describes Science Olympiad as an “academic track meet” where students compete as duos or trios in building and knowledge competitions. The Science Olympiad regional competition at Rolla, Mo was originally scheduled for February, but snow storms caused the event to be pushed back to March 9. With the date change, around half of the students scheduled to go could no longer make it.
“Our regional competition is usually in February. This year it got postponed until this weekend due to one of the snow storms,” Harmon said. “When the date got changed, approximately half of the students who were going to compete were no longer available.”
To restore teams, Harmon said she advertised Science Olympiad to various science classes in hopes of recruiting more members. She thinks it’s a valuable experience for all students excited by science.
“I like that students have the opportunity to really concentrate on the aspects of science that they are interested in,” Harmon said.
Junior Yaser Al Rawi was a competitor in Science Olympiad. He enjoyed the experience of Science Olympiad and has done it every year since he was a freshmen.
“You make a lot of new friends,” Al Rawi said. “The building events are kind of hard because you have to buy a lot of stuff on your own and put things together. I like the studying events because honestly, you can just study at home and you’ll be fine.”
Freshman Ben Xu echoes the sentiments of Al Rawi in his explanation of Science Olympiad. An avid participator of middle school Science Olympiad, he expects to continue the journey throughout high school.
“[The atmosphere] was really chill,” Xu said. “It doesn’t really matter how you do. It is more about having fun.”
Science Olympiad happens once every year. Harman hopes that through the event students can get a better and more interactive learning experience related to science.
“I hope that students learn to apply themselves to challenges, work together with their teammates, and have the opportunity to learn science outside the constraints of the classroom,” Harman said.