On April 5, Mt. Vernon High School’s Science Olympiad team competed at the state level. The competition was held at Purdue University Northwest in Hammond, Indiana.
According to its website, Science Olympiad is “the premier team STEM competition in the nation.” At competitions, various events are hosted that teams of students compete in.
Senior Vurvian Woolston stated that, “Science Olympiad is an opportunity for people who love learning and exploring science to come together and celebrate it…In my own experience, Science Olympiad is amazing not only because of the events themselves, but because of the people you meet and the things you learn along the way…You get to know these people and, in most cases, you become good friends. There is no more amazing experience than nerding out on the bus ride to and from competitions with a bunch of your friends about who knows what.”
This year, the individuals who went to state included seniors, juniors and freshmen. The senior students consisted of Addison Dilger, Andy Gao, Ella Hodnett, Aaron Hohnbaum, Adriana Josephson, Calista Smith and Vurvian Woolston. The juniors were Grayson Boyer, Marisa Burt, Hannah Hummel, Amrit Kaur, Jasmeen Kaur, Sarah Lottes, Lilli Ralich, Cameron Williams and Madeline Wilson. Lastly, the competing freshmen were Michael Hodnett, Vincent Mavris and Bryce Wilson. The coaches of Mt. Vernon’s Science Olympiad team were Mr. Everett and Mrs. Heidorn.
The Wind Power and Write It Do It events both received a ranking of fifth place. The Wind Power team consisted of seniors Andy Gao and Aaron Hohnbaum. The Write It Do It team consisted of senior Vurvian Woolston and junior Madeline Wilson.
Juniors Hannah Hummel and Jasmeen Kaur placed seventh in the Bungee Drop event. Additionally, Hummel and senior Ella Hodnett received a ranking of seventh place in the Electric Vehicle event.
The Optics team, composed of Hohnbaum and Madeline Wilson, and the Protein Modeling team of Michael Hodnett, Vincent Mavris and Bryce Wilson, placed ninth.
In the Entomology event, Hummel and Adriana Josephson placed tenth.
Mt. Vernon’s Science Olympiad team placed 14th overall. Qualifying for state finals is an accomplishment.
When asked about Science Olympiad’s accomplishment, Mr. Everett said this: “The Mt. Vernon Science Olympiad team qualified for the state finals of around 100 teams. We were always one of the top teams in our four invitationals. We earned third place at our regionals going up against some tough competitors and we placed 14th overall at state in what turned out to be a great year. The season is long—we drove for an average of three and a half hours round trip to each of the six competitions, competed for ten hours each competition and practiced and studied countless hours for the 23 events.”
Additionally, Mr. Everett stated, “It is bittersweet to say goodbye to our leaving senior members, most of whom have been with us for multiple years, but we are confident in their future success. Through their leadership and guidance, we have a strong remaining team and have high hopes for next year’s team.”