West Side Story: When did you first start Science Olympiad?
Erin Chen: I started Science Olympiad in 7th grade. I was introduced to it by my science teacher at the time, Mr. Hill, who was the club sponsor at Northwest.
Anjali Lodh: I started Science Olympiad when I was a freshman, and I competed in the regional and state events [freshman] year and last year as well. I did Codebusters and Write It Do It both years [in addition to] other side events.
Adam Salem: I started [Science Olympiad] in eighth grade in middle school; I signed up for it because I saw it on the club fair signup sheet. I had a lot of fun in the middle school club and going to the state competition was a great experience. The competition at state was great and Northwest, at that time, was very dominant in the competitions we were [involved in], so winning a lot of medals at state was super fun.
WSS: What were your all-time favorite events?
E.C.: Some of my favorite events include Crime Busters, Write It Do It, and Fast Facts.
A.L.: Codebusters was definitely my favorite, because I liked how it was a three-person event, which is the only event like that. It wasn’t a test event, so you didn’t have to [have] that much prior knowledge, you just have to know how to problem solve.
A.S.: Chem Lab was fun; Anatomy and Physiology was another fun event where I studied the human body. Another event that I really liked was Green Generation, which was an ecology-themed event.
WSS: What’s a word of advice to incoming students that want to join Science Olympiad?
E.C.: “Don’t be late to your events [during competitions]. … Joining Science Olympiad is definitely worth it. It is really fun and you get to learn new things.”
A.L.: “You should definitely try [Science Olympiad]. There’s always open spots to try different events. If you don’t like [an event], you can switch because there’s so many to try.”
A.S.: Turn up to the meetings — it’s a lot of fun. Everybody has a space [in the team] and it is almost completely open for anybody who wants to join. If you bring friends, you’ll probably get paired with them and you’ll get to pick an event of your choice.
