Belleville Science Olympiad Intelletes Compete at State
It may be Spring Break in Belleville, but students serious about science were already in Mrs. Smith’s classroom on a Thursday prepping as a team for state competition slated for March 31st through April 1st in Milwaukee, during the last weekend of their vacation. As teammates worked to prepare note sheets as study guides, and even weigh rubber bands to make sure all project rules for competition were adhered to, the energy from the students in the classroom was palpable. Junior Ben Johnson said, “I’m excited for the State Science Olympiad Competition this year because it’s been going really well this season!”
As sophomore Aidan Perry helped his teammate Ben Johnson prepare their plane to compete in the “flight” event – just one of the activities the two were preparing to help their Belleville team in – he notes, “Having moved to a new school this year, Science Olympiad was a natural fit for me. I love math and science and this gives me a chance to compete as a team member in something I love. It is an academic competitive team that did not exist at my old school.”
While students prepared for their specific events in the larger broad categories of Life Sciences; Earth Sciences; Chemistry & Physics; Technology; and Inquiry; their Coach Meredith Smith explained how much work goes into preparing the team for state competition: “For varsity I need to choose only 23 events with at least three in each of the categories. The stress there is trying to choose the events we do well in, but we also need to beat the other teams that we are competing against for a top six spot. I also want to make it manageable for my students while also balancing out what is best for the whole team with regard to each event.”
Science Olympiad prep was so interesting to observe because it ranges from watching students build and rebuild things like robots, planes and things like the “scrambler” for an engineer design project-based event, all the way to preparing copious notes to excel in the science categories that require test-taking. Regardless, it’s a whole bunch of work and, unlike seasonal sports, Science Olympiad starts in the early fall and stretches into the spring sports season by the time the team competes at State.
The University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee campus hosted this year’s event, and competitors also got the chance to attend the College of Engineering and Applied Science’s Open House, as well as STEM-related activities that were developed for the Science Olympiad “intelletes” competing at this level. It is a wonderful opportunity for an introduction to the sciences at the university level and helps prepare students to think about their future with regard to STEM-related fields of study and career goals.
This year’s team’s results after coming back from COVID and having to compete virtually were phenomenal! The Belleville Science Olympiad team placed 8th overall out of 43 varsity teams. The following students earned individual state honors: Ari Mehta and Alison Thompson – Detector Building (3rd place); Tony Diaz and Alora Spiegel – Forestry (3rd Place); Aidan Perry and Ari Mehta – Remote Sensing (4th Place); Tony Diaz and Alex Shrader – Scrambler (4th Place); Sariah Croft and Faith Waefler – Remote Sensing (5th Place); Holly Flick and Grace Lewis – Horticulture (5th Place). Their coach, Meredith Smith is very pleased with her team’s accomplishments this season.
