The Science Olympiad State Tournament

By Eddy Pang and Anusha Singh

Unlike most Vestavia students who welcomed the much-needed spring break, the VHHS Science Olympiad Team had their eyes set on another goal: the State Tournament. Taking place on March 23rd, the tournament was held at Auburn University, where teams from across the state competed in a variety of events. 

Science Olympiad is an academic event unique in how it is structured. Science Olympiad has 23 events, which are divided into five categories: Life, Personal and Social Science; Earth and Space Science; Physical Science and Chemistry; Technology and Engineering; and Inquiry and Nature of Science. The team spends each day in class preparing for Regionals, which took place in February, and State, by completing practice tests, preparing notes for academic events, running through labs and experiments, and testing build designs.

On the day of the competition, each of the 15 team members can usually compete in 3-5 of their events, which can range from anything from taking tests to constructing planes. As a result, a team member might end up analyzing dissected pigs, solving a crime, and flying a plane, all in the span of three hours!

Safe to say, the Rebels did not disappoint. Schools have to succeed in regional tournaments across the state to qualify for the state tournament, which means the competition this past weekend was the best of the best, including teams such as Loveless Academic Magnet Program (LAMP) High School, the Alabama School of Fine Arts, James Clemens High School, and Bob Jones High School.

The team, led by AP and Honors Chemistry teacher Mrs. Sutherland, placed second overall in the state, an impressive feat that demonstrates the immense work and effort the team puts in each and every day. First place went to ASFA, and they will be competing at Nationals this summer in Michigan.

The following students placed in their events: 

• Air Trajectory - 1st (Jeb Savage and Henry Groce)

• Anatomy and Physiology - 2nd (Anusha Singh and Danielle Qin)

• Codebusters - 3rd (Corra Maddox and Danielle Qin)

• Detector Building - 2nd (Jeffrey Wu and Thomas Moravec)

• Disease Detectives - 2nd (Hope Johnson and Hannah Lenoir)

• Ecology - 2nd (Garrett Zinsmeister and Jessica Lao)

• Flight - 1st (Jeb Savage and Hud Green)

• Forestry - 1st (Garrett Zinsmeister and Jessica Lao)

• Geologic Mapping - 3rd (Hud Green and Corra Maddox)

• Microbe Mission - 2nd (Anusha Singh and Hope Johnson)

• Optics - 2nd (Anusha Singh and Nehan Andrabi)

• Robot Tour - 3rd (Thomas Moravec)

Congratulations to all of these students for their hard work and success!