Science Olympiad sees success at the state competition
The 2023 Science Olympiad team poses for a team picture.
Norwin’s Science Olympiad team shines at the state competition.
On April 22 the Norwin Science Olympiad team placed 27th overall and walked away with medals in three events after the Pennsylvania State Science Olympiad Competition at Penn State Altoona.
The Science Olympiad team, one of the two competition teams of the Science Challenge Squad, qualified for states after placing sixth at the Southwest Regional Science Olympiad Competition on March 1.
Science Olympiad is a competition based on a multitude of events spanning a large number of scientific and engineering topics. At each competition teams bring fifteen members, each becoming experts in three to four events. Working together with a partner, they do their best to answer as many questions as they can, or engineer the best device according to their assigned event’s rules sheet.
After the regional competition, Norwin’s Science Olympiad team created a list of expectations for the state competition. Going into the competition, the members focused on one or two events, hoping that it would allow them to place.
This tactic worked in their favor, as with the competition of 36 of the best teams from across the state, the team placed in the top ten in three different events.
The event with the highest place finish was juniors Hailey Crapser and Taylor Miller. They broke the top five, placing fourth overall in Chemistry Lab. Seniors and future environmental science majors Amanda Anticole and Elizabeth Long placed sixth in Green Generation, an environmentally-centered event. Finally, juniors Arnav Bedekar and Suhana Navalgund placed tenth in Write It Do It, an event centered on being able to write and follow concise construction instructions.
Overall, team adviser and physics teach Mr. Matthew Anticole was quite proud with how the team performed in this year’s state competition.
“Anyday that you can medal at States versus the best schools across Pennsylvania is a good day,” Mr. Anticole said. “While I want to see us rise in our overall ranking in the future, I’m very happy that more than 1/3 of our team walked out with a medal!”
Hailey Crasper, a medalist and first year member of the team, found that cooperation and friendship are very important when it comes to Science Olympiad.
“When it came to the state competition,” Crapser said, “I learned that knowing your lab partners makes work easier.”
Amanda Anticole, the president of the Science Challenge Squad and a senior member of the Science Olympiad team, hopes that more underclassmen will join the team next year.
“My advice to underclassmen who want to get involved would be to try out for the team next year!” Anticole said. “Going for those already involved too, you really seem to get out of it what you put in, so it can be very rewarding if you dedicate the time to it.”
Elizabeth is a senior and a second year writer for the Knight Krier. She is the Vice President of the Science Challenge Squad, Treasurer of the Student...
