CVHS SciOly strives for national tournament

The CVHS Science Olympiad (SciOly) program made it to nationals last year, and the group is on track to make it this year again. At the most recent regionals, CVHS teams Onion and Garlic placed first and second, respectively, out of 51 high school teams, while teams Scallion and Shallot placed twelfth and thirteenth. 

The top four schools at regionals get to go to the state competition, where if they win, they proceed to the national competition. Team Onion will advance to the NorCal State Final in Turlock on April 20.

“While this is the end of the season for three of our teams, we’ve had a great season and everybody has worked really hard,” said senior Tomi Chen, Team Onion member and SciOly officer.

Altogether, the teams won 50 medals in 23 events at regionals, totaling their count to 138 medals this season.

“We want to make the national competition again this year,” said senior Vilius Staraitis, another member of Team Onion and SciOly leader. 

Team Onion is kicking into higher gear to prepare for the state and national competitions. Invitationals are local SciOly events that allow schools to practice. At these events our teams have been able to spot their weaknesses and improve upon them.

“My coaches and I are planning to revamp the entire thing,” Staraitis said about their Scrambler vehicle. 

Scrambler is a build event where teams make a mechanical device, which uses the energy from a falling mass to transport an egg along a track as quickly as possible and stop as close to the center of a wall without breaking the egg. As margins get tighter, the team is looking to improve weight and other design factors in their vehicle.

Other team members compete in study events, in which teams are tested on their knowledge in a particular topic.

“It’s different than school [exams] in that you don’t really know what’s on the test,” Chen explained. Chen said his top study resource for this never-ending battle of knowledge expansion is Wikipedia.

Team Onion is looking to take their hard work from this year and experience from last year to propel them to nationals. With their success so far, team members think that prospects seem great.