Since its establishment over a decade ago, Science Olympiad, West’s primary science competition club, has become an integral part of the STEM community at West High. However, the club has struggled in the past with inconsistent funding and a lack of commitment, as well as general disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
This year, Science Olympiad looks to turn that around. The club has undergone significant changes to its leadership, funding and organizational structure, which participants and leaders alike believe will strengthen this year’s prospects in the upcoming competitions.
“This is the best we’ve done in years,” Head Captain Adam Salem ’26 said. Salem has been a part of Science Olympiad since eighth grade, and has seen it develop throughout the years. Now, as one of the main organizers of the club, Salem has the chance to implement his years of experience and change the club for the better.
Science Olympiad’s leadership structure has changed vastly this year, implementing a new system of captains and co-captains. Among the new management are Middle School Liaisons Alex Forbes ’26 and Jensen Lin ’27, Finance Officers Finnley Bonfig ’26 and Shannon Chen ’27 and Chief of Public Relations Asif Ali ’26. The expansion of leadership roles has allowed the club to spread tasks and management across different sections.
“We made the board a lot bigger. We figured that that would disperse the workload, and it meant that we wouldn’t have people feeling overwhelmed and that more stuff would actually get done,” Salem said.
Additionally, the protocol for choosing captains has been reworked. “Predominantly in the past, it’s always been a pattern of three seniors and one junior,” Salem said. “That junior would then next year become a senior and pick two more seniors and another junior. But we switched it up this year. Each role is assigned one junior and one senior, so when the senior leaves, there’s a junior that picked up all the information and can pick another [upcoming] junior.”
The new system allows for valuable experience to be passed down over the years, which is especially important in Science Olympiad. Many of the mainstay competition events remain fairly similar year by year, meaning incoming freshmen can find essential material from upperclassmen in the same events.
Additionally, the club has found several new sources of funding. Chemistry teacher Megan Bildner has been the sponsor of Science Olympiad for the past three years after taking the position from previous sponsor and former West chemistry teacher Nick Bushkosky in 2023. This year, she believes the club’s new resources will help it reach even greater heights.
“We’ve worked a lot on fundraising,” Bildner said. “The biggest thing is that we actually have some funding available in order to purchase materials for the builds and some of those events. We’ve also been using some of that funding to buy starter packs for some of the events that are newer or harder to find notes [on].”
Now, West High Science Olympiad is experiencing a surge in commitment and performance. With five teams of 15 people each as opposed to only two teams last year, the club’s growth is evident, painting an optimistic picture of its future as a program.
“I’m really hopeful. We’ve got a strong group,” Bildner said. “We have a lot of seniors, but also we have a lot of underclassmen that are really contributing across a lot of events. So I’m hopeful that that will continue to grow.”
On top of the strong high school team, Science Olympiad has established a far stronger relationship this year with the Northwest Middle School program, establishing a foundation for the future.
“The junior high team has really picked up,” Bildner said. “The middle school has two full teams. They have about 30 students involved, and so that is a fantastic pipeline for us. They’ll have some experience coming in.”
With such importance being placed on experience, the opportunity for students to compete in more competitions before state is also a huge improvement of this season. The Science Olympiad schedule has added two extra virtual competitions, allowing students to refine their notes and builds before state.
“The new competitions are going to give us much more practice,” Assistant Captain Erin Chen ’27 said. “I think it’s what a lot of people lack. They do [competitions] once or twice, and they’re off to State. That’s not enough. I think these other competitions expose [them] more to the knowledge they need to have. So it just makes them push harder and work harder.”
With all the new developments, Science Olympiad seems poised to do better than it’s done in years. With the Mount Vernon Invitational in February and the state competition in April, everyone has their sights set on victory.
In Bildner’s eyes, the team’s objective is clear: “I want to beat the other teams. We want first at state. That’s our goal.”
