The South Lakes Science Olympiad placed 9th at their regional competition out of 29 teams. They went into the competition with 3 different teams, Arcsin, Arccos, and Arctan.
Science Olympiad is a club here at South Lakes who offer the opportunity to participate in different events to your liking. Some include: Disease Detectives, Anatomy and Physiology, and Forensics and Ecology. There were some people on teams Arcsin and Arccos that medaled at the regional competition, which was held at Centerville High School. At the competition, depending on the event, students perform labs, test robots, or take exams to earn points.
From Team A (Arcsin), Jahnvi Nandanavanam and Mithra Venkatesan placed 3rd for Anatomy and Physiology.
“One key strategy I use in preparation, especially for Human Anatomy and Physiology, is to break down how my partner and I will tackle the event, ensuring we each ‘master’ our part of the event’s topics and have some familiarity with the other part of the content,” Jahnvi Nandanavanam said.
Also from Team A, Rosa Golac and Zoya Ghantiwala placed 3rd for Astronomy
“The topic this year was Stellar Evolution.” Zoya Ghantiwala said. “There is also the astrophysics section, which is done through understanding formulas and practicing problems,” Ghantiwala continued.
In order to study for her event, Rosa says “I get a foundation in the concept topics using Crash course videos, then I follow the rule book to know what specifically to focus on.”
And finally from Team A, Calla Alexander and Kevin Morrow placed 6th in Ecology.
From Team B (Arccos), Junior Olivia Inglefield earned 5th place for Disease Detectives and 4th place in Optics with Ana-Maria Manea.
The 2024-25 officers for science olympiad include Jahnvi Nandavandam (12), Zoya Ghantiwala (11), Rosa Golac (11), Vivian Pham (10) and Mithra Venkatesan (10). Every year, this group choses new officers for the next school year.
The South Lakes Science Olympiad is currently planning an initiative at Langston Hughes Middle School to involve the younger students in a Science Olympiad program of their own.
Nandanavanam tells us, “During our regional competition at Centreville this year, our coach, Mr. Sprang, explained how fostering an early interest in STEM and Science Olympiad can enhance both creativity and scientific skills in future Science Olympiad competitors. To build this pipeline, we (the South Lakes Science Olympiad Club) are hosting an interest meeting in April to introduce Langston Hughes Middle School students to Science Olympiad, and plan to establish a team at Langston Hughes next year.”
If you are interested in joining this club next year, be on the lookout for information on their instagram: @southlakesscioly and in the morning announcements.
