On Jan. 18, the DHS Science Olympiad teams traveled to UMBC to compete at the UMBC Science Olympiad Invitational event. Teams from Maryland, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Virginia competed in 21 events encompassing most fields of science. Event topics included anatomy, chemistry, biology, forensics, entomology, physics and astronomy.
There are three separate Science Olympiad teams at DHS this year, with a maximum of 15 students per team. The Green Team, the main team this year, competed in all 21 events while the other two, the Gold and Hornet teams, only competed in a few events.
There are many different types of events teams have the opportunity to participate in every year. Some events are builds, where students must build an object to carry out an objective. There are also test events in which students take a test on certain topics. Finally, there are hybrid events, in which students must take a test and complete a build, or even do labs.
Each event requires either two or three students from each team to compete. To get on the Green Team, students must compete in at least three events.
In the past, the DHS Science Olympiad teams had competed at the UMD Invitational event but this year, they went to the UMBC event. When asked about why they went to a different venue, the sponsor of the club explained that the UMD Invitationals were “very unorganized”, as they were run by college students, and the UMBC Invitationals are run by adults.
When asked how they thought they did, many students expressed that the event was “extremely competitive” and many showed concern about whether or not they would win any medals. One student in particular said that it felt as if “every event had something go wrong” whether it was a build not working correctly or a test event being harder than expected.
However, despite the worries of many of the students, the teams were able to earn several medals for the different events. The Green team earned first place in the Tower event, second place in Bungee Drop and third place in Electric Vehicle and Optics. The Gold Team also earned two medals by earning first place in Robot Tour and Optics.
The Green Team also managed to place top ten in Forensics, Wind Power, Microbe Mission, Codebusters, Anatomy, Helicopter, and Materials Science. The Gold Team also placed top ten in Bungee Drop and Codebusters.
The Damascus Green Team placed tenth overall out of 22 teams. The Gold Team placed 14 overall, and the Hornet Team placed last as they only competed in one event.
Now, the pressure is on for the teams as they head to the regional competition on Feb. 8 at Montgomery College. The teams have been preparing since Invitationals to improve their builds, take more notes for tests and strategize with their partners. If they are in the top ten overall at Regionals, they will move on to States at Clarksville Middle School on Apr. 5.
