The Science Olympiad team competed in a virtual state competition with their 15 members on April 23. They placed 17 out of 51 teams.

“I was very excited for our students,” sponsor Robert Sherman said. “This team has persevered, practiced, and [had] the opportunity to compare themselves with the best teams in the state.”

In order to make it to state, the Science Olympiad team had to place in the top eight teams at regionals. LT placed second, allowing them to compete at state, Science Olympiad member Emad Khilfeh ‘22 said. 

Typically, the competitions are held in-person, but due to COVID-19, they have all been held virtually, Sherman said. He is hopeful that they will be back in-person next year. 

“While still a great way to encourage STEM education, we are hoping to return to the comradery and excitement of in-person competition next season,” club member Matthew Ozark ‘23 said.

In a normal year, the state competition is held at the University of Illinois in Champaign-Urbana, where the students stay in the dorms for their overnight competition, Sherman said. This year, the competition was held remotely, leaving the team to virtually compete together at LT. The sponsors are responsible for running the tests, which are then submitted to the Science Olympiad website for scoring.

Aside from competing at a high level, a main focus of the club is to recruit underclassmen, Ozark said. He and the rest of the upcoming seniors are trying to maintain as much spirit and dedication to the club as possible. 

“We feel as though we are on a better path towards building the future of the team than we did last year, which to me is a greater accomplishment,” Ozark said.

This year has proved to be difficult as the former sponsors all withdrew after last year, leaving the members to find new ones, Ozark said. They have achieved the benchmark of students needed to compete with upperclassmen members helping out where needed.

The Science Olympiad team practiced every Wednesday after school in room 251 at NC.