The following is from the Salina High School Science Olympiad team:
If there were a few words that would describe the team for the Salina High School Science Olympiad this year, it would be a “step forward in dealing with adversity.” The team ended an exceptional year interrupted by numerous achievements. Celebrating the graduation of 10 seniors.
The season started great in November, when Saline hosted his first tournament by invitation. Troy Athens hosted the tournament together. The tournament was limited to 24 teams as part of the learning process. It was amazing to see everything in person and the day was highlighted by most of the families who gave time and energy to the day. Many alumni have returned to help run the event and to help with other functions. As the host, the team did not compete for the trophy.
Saline traveled to Ohio for the first major competition of the year. Saline took fourth place at Northview against many of the best teams in the Midwest. In January, Saline competed in Cal-Tech Virtually from his Saline High School classroom, finishing 14th in the nation against many of the other best schools in the country. After Caltech, the team traveled to Solon Ohio and won its first trophy in history - finishing sixth overall. This is at the time of Covid’s greatest growth, which makes the trip especially challenging - including several schedule changes and sick leave.
Later in the winter, Saline attended Haslett, who was first, Frankenmouth Eagles, who was first, and Allendale, who was first. The team also personally competed in the call-up of the University of Michigan and took fourth place.
The season accelerated in March with a trip to Hillsdale College and a victory at the regional championship. After six years when he finished second, Saline finally beat Pioneer and won the regional championship. It was a special day because Pioneer has been a national team for several years.
After the regional competition, the team traveled to the state championship in Lansing. The team had an amazing day, taking third place overall. The team had a record 18 placements out of 23 competitions. The team has just missed the road to the National Championship as the first two teams advance. Saline was in a strong position to win the state championship, but three competitions were bad, which led to the whole team being left without the first one. Saline repeated in third place, an incredible result in what many consider one of the most challenging countries in the country. The first two from Michigan are advancing in the national championship.
The national team consisted of: senior captains - Jason Chen, Sahil Thumma, Jason Hu, Josie Caien; Seniors - Mason Miller, Joseph Chen, Prasidi Shivakumaran; Junior Rian Landini; Second-graders - Abby Rod, Ayush Reddy, Alex Liu, Avery Nillis, Riley Spencer; and freshmen Adrian Sieh and Alice Jiang. The team also had support from Kira Saporski, Grace Gasparovic and Andrew Irgang in the United States.
The team has won the most gold medals of any national team this year and the most ever of any Saline team with five. In addition, the team won two bronze and two silver medals. Here are the highlights:
Second place anatomy and physiology - Jason Chen Sahil Tuma
Astronomy for fifth place - Josie Cayenne and Joseph Chen
Bridges in seventh place - Alice Jiang (main), Abby Rod
Third place Codebusters - Jason Chen, Alec Liu, Adrian Sieh
Detector for fifth place - Mason Miller, Jason Hu
Eighth place detective for diseases - Mason Miller, Sahil Tuma
Second place-Dynamic Planet Jason Hu, Josie Cayen
Sixth place Environmental Chemistry Mason Miller, Jason Hu
First place Experimental design - Joseph Chen, Alex Liu, Alice Jiang
Forensics for third place - Jason Chen, Prasidi Shivakumaran
First place Gravity vehicle - Ayush Reddy (main), Alex Liu
First place Green Generation - Jason Hu, Josie Cayenne
Sixth place It’s about time - Joseph Chen, Abby Rod
Sixth place Ping Pong Parachute - Josie Cayenne, Joseph Chen
Sixth place Remote Sensing - Josie Cayen, Jason Hu
Path of first place - Riley Spencer, Ryan Landini
First place WIFI Laboratory - Jason Hu, Mason Miller
Fourth place Wright Stuff - Ryan Landini (main), Alice Jiang
This performance is even more amazing considering that a key member was missing with Covid in the weeks before the competition, places and even rules changed several times due to problems with Covid, and younger students struggled with difficult adjustment in person after which were virtual. last year.
“This is the strongest team I have been in, especially when you take into account all the adversities that the team had to go through. I was really proud of how much the older students tried to help the younger ones adjust to high school, and how much the team worked to try to bring a small program to the National Championship - even though we just missed it. “I’m especially excited to be just a few points away from Mason (Ohio) at Cal Tech,” said Nath Akella, head coach. “This was a special team this year, which I will always be proud of. I really hope they know how good they were - really a team that every coach dreams of ”
This year’s state champion was Mason High School, from Ohio.
The team of the Scientific Olympiad always welcomes new members, the summer program starts in July.