After seven months of preparation and three competitions, 33 students from two of West High’s Science Olympiad teams arrived at Ames for the state competition April 11. Hosted on the campus of Iowa State University, the competition tested students in various STEM-related events throughout the day. Two teams from Northwest Middle School traveled alongside the high school.

West High’s Gold and Green teams achieved two collective gold-medal finishes, four silvers and four bronzes, battling with over 20 other teams. Gold Team placed third overall and Green sixth, with bronze being West’s first podium placement since 2021. Ethan Lee ’26, a four-year Science Olympiad member, won with Gold Team as well as landing an individual gold medal. Having helped the team pull off their best result in years, Lee felt it was a much-deserved triumph. 

“This is a victory that’s been years in the making,” Lee said. “We’ve got a pretty strong squad, and I expect great things to come.”

Beyond West’s individual podium finishes, the teams were supported by consistent high placing across their other events. The scoring system rewards strong team-wide performances, and ranks teams using a combined score based on the results of all events. Across the Gold and Green teams, West achieved 12 finishes between fourth and sixth place, allowing them to edge out some other teams who had more individual podium finishes.

Megan Bildner, a chemistry teacher at West High and the Science Olympiad adviser, helped the team prepare and do well at the state competition. She was especially proud of the quality of builds this year and thought the team had many great achievements. Builds are events in Science Olympiad where students design, create and test devices to accomplish a task.

“We had a little bit more experience this year. So, as students are coming from the middle school up to the high school, they know what to expect,” Bildner said.

Results: 

First Place:

Ethan Lee and Henry Timmer-Hackert ’26 – Entomology

Alex Forbes ’26 and Maximilian Hing ’29 – Electric Vehicle

Second Place:

Maximilian Hing  and Jaynou Ma ’28 – Designer Genes

Adam Lee ’28 and Ethan Ding ’28 – Entomology

Gabriel Conrad ’26 and Dede Noupougbe ’27 – Machines

Konnon Chen ’28 and Jaynou Ma ’28 – Botany

Third Place:

Erin Chen ’27 and Jensen Lin ’27 – Bungee Drop

Alex Forbes and Asif Ali ’26 – Hovercraft

Oli Lieberman ’29 and Gracie Liu ’27 – Remote Sensing

Evan Liu ’28 and Maximilian Hing – Code Craze