Every year after winter break, students spend all of Saturday at different schools around Northeast Ohio. They compete in events, and perform science experiments and even building towers.

Meet the Science Olympiad team, who successfully are on their way to states after competing in the competition at Case Western on February 25th.

Science Olympiad is a high school, middle school, and even elementary school team competition in which students compete in ‘events,’ and gain points based on how they place for every event. Like golf, the fewer points a team has, the better the team does.

Mary Fash, the club adviser, has been coaching Science Olympiad for over 9 years and is excited to see how the team competes at states this year.

Fash compares being a part of the club to football. She said, “Getting team members off to the first events at a competition is kind of like the opening kick-off of a football game: preparation is done, and the game has started!”

By the beginning of December student’s excitement about the club increases. Fash said, “Placing well is exciting, both for the individual and the team as a whole. Success breeds success, as they say; and excitement builds more excitement.”

Anthony Gamerman is club president, and has been a part of the club since 7th grade. He said, “I expect that we are going to go and perform pretty well.”

“I like the social aspect of [the club], and it’s interesting to compete against other schools and see where you are in comparison.” said senior Liz Rotenberg, who has been a member of the club for over four years. She joined the club to get more involved with certain topics she enjoys.

By attending invitationals every couple weeks in January and February, and then the regional competition at the end of February, students get more hands-on experience with the events they are involved in. The invitationals are a way to practice, and learn from mistakes.

Fash said, “[I see lots of] improvement from the early invitationals to the later ones. Students get better [after more practice].”

Lakshi Mittal has been a part of Science Olympiad for almost 7 years. She said, “I really enjoy being able to come to competitions every Saturday with so many of my friends. [We all] really get to do something that we all love.”

Every year, different students join the club, along with events getting changed every couple years. This is part of the rush that makes Science Olympiad so much fun for new and old students.

“The rush of invitationals and competition is definitely my favorite thing about Science Olympiad. [I love] how everyday you’re scrambling to get ready and the day of- everything goes horribly wrong but you still seem to make it out in the end alright.” said Gamerman.

As new students join the club, the they learn how to build towers and helicopters, while also doing written events like Anatomy and Physiology and Ecology. They are also able to do events like Chem Lab and Forensics, where more science related questions are displayed.

The team was able to bring a fifth-place trophy home on February 25th, at the regional competition at Case Western. The state competition will be on April 1st at Ohio State University.