Halfway through its 2019 competition season, MVHS Science Olympiad has already competed at four invitational tournaments in the Bay Area: the Tracy Invitational, Golden Gate Invitational, Ukiah Invitational and Mira Loma Invitational. With varying performances at each competition, members on the club’s constituent teams, Purple, Gold and White, share aspirations for future competitions.

At competitions, teams are split into individual groups of two or three competitors, each of which participate in a different event. Members can be part of up to four different event groups.

Co-VP of Engineering and junior Aditya Chittari and his team, the Purple Team, recently placed second out of 10 overall at the Ukiah Invitational. Six groups in the Purple Team won first place medals and a further eleven groups won medals for placing in second and third in other events.

“In order to win second place [overall], we all had to collectively put in a lot of effort and teamwork to achieve that goal,” Chittari said. “We took a number of prep exams and notes to practice for the tournament. We also met up occasionally to practice together.”

Members of MVHS Science Olympiad are split among three constituent teams based on their performance on a screening test at the beginning of the year. Those who are most experienced and knowledgeable in events they wish to compete in are placed in the Purple team, followed by the Gold and White teams.

While sophomore William Huang’s team, the Gold Team, did not place in the top five at the Golden Gate Invitational, he says they gained valuable takeaways for future competitions. Unexpected changes in tests, for example, helped him understand the value of more comprehensive studying.

“I learned that an abundance of information is important to study for Science Olympiad [because] the variation in test versions will often focus on different aspects of a certain field of science,” Huang said.

Currently on the Gold Team, Huang aspires to advance in the echelons of the club and enter the more prestigious Purple Team by showing improved performance in future competitions. Similarly, White Team competitor and sophomore Anshul Dash would like to improve his studying for the tests in upcoming competitions.

“The goals I have set for myself are to prepare a lot more for the upcoming regional competition, try to apply what I have learned and studied to do well at the competition and also constantly work to improve team spirit and collaboration,” Dash said.

To study for the events, the various members followed their own methods, from creating a binder to attending group sessions. For many members, creating a binder was not as simple as just compiling miscellaneous fact or study papers. Members scrutinized over finding the balance between including as much information as possible while avoiding information they believed to be unnecessary.

“Preparations included making a study binder with an excess library of notes, formula derivations and a chemistry reference chart in order,” Huang said. “We also invested in notebooks and online resources such as databases.”

Check out the infographic below for a list of first place winners and overall performance at recent invitationals.