Science Olympiad at State: The Underdog will rise again...

The darkness that succumbed the interior of the yellow school bus was lit up for a brief moment. All 20 people, including the 16 members of the team and the advisors: Mr. Molik and Mrs. Todd, biology teacher Mrs. Coleman, and Sarah Corera’s mother (nicknamed Lulu), all on the bus, quickly started murmuring when the results of the State competition were posted online.

“We didn’t get last!” advisor of the team, Mr. Molik, yelled with excitement. It was at this moment that the team recognized their achievements. The next 5 minutes of that dimly lit bus ride was spent with the announcements of the places everyone got in their events. Numbers ranged from 8, to 10, to all the way in the bottom with 31. Now, many of you may be thinking: “that sounds really bad! I’m sure the team was filled with disappointment after hearing such news”, and to that I say: wrong!

Yes, it sounds a bit weird to say, but the 2016-2017 Science Olympiad team had a goal before they stepped foot into the Caltech campus for the Southern California State competition: don’t get last place and try your best!

It would be an understatement to say that this event was far more competitive than the AVC regional competition held on February 18th, 2017. This time, we were going up against the champs of other regionals across the Southern California area. Schools such as Troy High School and West High, who are known for dominating such competitions, of course made their presence known.

From the minute we reached the parking lot and carried pounds and pounds of metallic weights (I’m still feeling sore from all that carrying), everyone saw the vibe as a bit off, and maybe even intimidating.

Alejandro Suniga, a junior at TPAA and member of Science Olympiad since Freshman year, stated “This competition will be much more intense. We’ll probably get less rankings as a team as well”. Such attitudes were echoed across the team. “The competition will be a lot more serious as well,” said junior student, Raymond Guevera. It’s Raymond’s very first year of Science Olympiad ever, and here he is already at a State competition.

In fact, almost half of the team this year are in the same boat. Members such as Cristian Gutierrez, Leslie L. Ramirez, and Anthony De Santos all started off this year as newbies. And here they are, apart of the very 1st Science Olympiad team at TPAA to enter a State competition.

Once the team entered the gates of CalTech, every individual wandered off to find the buildings in which their events would be held in.

*Ana Coles and Raymond Guevera heading off to their Electric Vehicle event .*

The only sophomore on the team, Efrain Munoz, was looking forward to the competition, especially Hydrogeology. “We got 1st at regionals, so I’m excited for that.” However, such excitement was not shown for all other events. “I’m least looking forward to Remote Sensing since it covers really broad topics.”

After a couple of hours searching the campus for building numbers and classrooms, the time came in which almost everyone would be gone competing with an event. These events cover a variety of different science topics; Anatomy, Helicopters, Robot Arm, Disease Detectives, Invasive Species, Forensics, and Rocks & Minerals are just a pinch of the many events, over 20 actually, that a number of schools compete in for a chance at medals, trophies, and in this case, a placement in the Nationals Competition.

As minutes turned into many hours, the clock struck 6:00 p.m.and the teams at the competition were to wait in line to enter the Beckman Auditorium, the dome like building at CalTech that would host the awards ceremony. The building was massive, and the team spent their time messing around, playing volleyball, and chatting with our fellow friends from West High School.

One of the most integral members of the team is Sarah Correras, a senior on the team who has been with Science Olympiad for years. It’s her last year being with us, and while it is sad knowing she won’t be competing in future competitions, it was great to see her end her Science Olympiad career competing at a State competition, a place she has always wanted the team to attend. “The team has grown so much since I started here. People who were so shy to talk to others are now some of the most outgoing people I know. We created a bonds and we’re a family now, and I’m really happy about that.” Sarah cheerfully stated.

*The team waiting to enter the auditorium.*

After lots and lots of taking pictures, the team was finally allowed to enter the Award ceremony. In the lavish building, the ceiling was coated with some form of a gold-like paint, and the seats were draped with the color of a crimson red. While the wait was pretty long, the ceremony itself was absolutely magnificent. The event started with an introduction to the Science Olympiad program in Southern California region, and a brief introduction to the levels of space exploration our world has accomplished, with the predictions of black holes.

The very informal presentations ended, finally coming to the fun part-- handing out the medals and announcing the top 6 teams, with the 1st place team heading off to Nationals. TPAA’s Science Olympiad team felt pretty good o a majority of their events. Yes, there were a few who suffered through some stumbles, but it’s not like we never faced any before.

As the awards started and the medals came out for the top 6 teams that competed the best in the 23 events, our Science Olympiad team looked at each other with some form of a defeated look. Our hope still ran through, yet the team left CalTech with 0 medals in hand.

Were we disappointed? Yes. Could we have done better? Of course. However, each person on that team left with their heads up high, knowing that we came, we saw, and we tried to conquer. Overall, team Co3 placed 28th place out of 31 teams. As member of the squadron Anthony De-Santos tells it, “we got 3rd place…. From last.”

Despite this disappointment, the team left knowing that we had a great season for the 2016-2017 year, being the very 1st Science Olympiad team to make it to State, and are even more prepared for next year's competition.