On March 26, 2022, the South Lakes Science Olympiad team will be heading to the University of Virginia to compete in their State competition. Science Olympiad is a competition featuring 23 events focused on a variety of science topics. Two or three students compete in each event. South Lakes sent two teams to their regional competition, each team consisting of 15 students.

In order to qualify for the state competition, the team had to out-perform seven other schools in the region. Though South Lakes did not earn a trophy this year, they did receive an invitation to compete at states.

Multiple South Lakes students also won medals in their events:

• Aamani Kotla and Gangmu Liu, 2nd in Bridges
• Christopher Zhong and Kevin Alegre, 2nd Wifi Lab 
• Jahnavi Nandanavanam and Kevin Morrow, 3rd in Gravity Vehicle
• Jahnavi Nandanavanam and Sarina Nayak, 4th in Anatomy and Physiology 
• Justin Vogel and Kevin Alegre, 4th in Astronomy
• Sebastian Hase and Trenten Moder, 4th Wifi Lab
• Manav Nadriga and Sarina Nayak, 4th in Green Generation

Last year, students competed completely virtual for both the regional and state level competition. That meant most  “build events”, or events that require students to create a device or structure, were eliminated. In place of the build, students completed a written test. However, this year, the build events returned to the regular in-person format, and were tested at Charlottesville High School. For regional written test events, students were, once again, testing virtually. All events in the state competition will be taking place in-person at UVA.

Club members were excited to compete in person with their teammates again. The semi-inperson format allowed for more efficient collaboration and communication. And though the team faced multiple challenges during their regional competition, they hope to recover well and score even higher at States.