Science Olympiad Club Energizes CW Students
Several CWHS/MS students have been taking their science knowledge up a notch with the newest CW organized club-Science Olympiad!
Science Olympiad’s mission is to promote Science, Technology, Engineering and Mathematics (STEM) education for students by providing challenges in various competitive events. Tournaments are hosted at schools throughout Wisconsin during the school year, culminating with the state tournament—held April 6-7, in Milwaukee. Events include competitions in such subjects as anatomy and physiology, optics, astronomy, ecology and forensics science. Some events involved simply taking a test to demonstrate knowledge; others involved building something and running it to specifications or running a science lab.
This was the first year students at CWHS/MS have had the opportunity to participate in this organization, which is led by teachers Sara Gregorich at the high school and Crystal Buchholtz at the middle school. As such, the students basically started from scratch, filling out help sheets or creating build kits with information and tools that they thought they’d need to prepare. According to senior Jasmyn Collins, many of those on the team spent hours after school at least once a week going over these items and studying to get them ready for competition. Each student is responsible for multiple events, as the state tournament requires high school to register for 23 event. This provides them the opportunity to hone time management skills during preparation and prepare for topics covering biology, chemistry, physics and technology.
At first, success didn’t come easily. There was a learning curve as students attended their first invitational meets, trying to understand what the competition was like and what they’d have to learn to succeed. As they continued studying, and as they gained confidence, the accolades grew.
By regionals sophomore Claire Knutson junior Makenna Watson took fourth place in the event Microbe Mission, while five other events placed fifth on the high school team. CWMS students Joel Cisneros and Abbie Kane took third at the Medford Invitational and second at regionals in the event Dynamic Planet. Emily Collins and Morgan Hallquist took fourth in Solar System at the Medford Invitational.
“The competitions were fun,” notes Watson. “We really became more of a team. Science Olympiad really does challenge you. It’s college-level material, but it’s really fun when you are doing stuff you like and it’s with your friends.”
“I always really liked science,” said Collins. “It was a lot of work, but it was really fun. You were definitely learning regardless of the events you were in, so it was always a challenge. I liked that. It was cool to see the progress from our first invite to having that confidence going into the state meet.”
By the state meet, they were ready, even bringing home some hardware and placing! CWHS seniors Jasmyn Collins and Kennedy Antczak took home first-place medals in their event focused on forensics science. CWMS student Joel Cisneros earned sixth-place in Dynamic Planet, an event usually completed with a partner; BrookLynne Rahm-Jost and Grace Neilsen placed fifth in Mystery Architecture. It was a successful end to the CW Science Olympiad team’s inaugural season.
“We started the season knowing it was going to be a challenge, especially with not knowing what to expect from the tournaments,” notes Buccholtz. “I’m incredibly proud of both the high school and middle teams for tackling that challenge and setting the bar for next year.”
Gregorich, too, looks forward to next year.
“We hope that the interest is large enough for next year that we can run multiple teams at each level which would allow us to have a really competitive varsity team and a JV team that allows a more relaxed version for students who are in so many clubs that it is hard for them to devote the time Science Olympiad would need to be competitive against the larger schools.”
