Science Olympiad

  • The team members chosen for 2023-2024 Solon Middle School Division B Science Olympiad are:

    9th: Mukund Chimalakonda, Sharvi Deshpande, Claire Huang, Matthew Kim, Iris Li, Isaac Liebson, Michael Parker, Steven Samuel, Aarnav Soin, Harshini Thirumalaikumar, Sophia Zhang, Kevin Zhao

    8th: Karan Bahl, Rajanya Bishi, Samuel Joo, Nathan Liu, Samipa Patel, Shawn Samuel, Arihant Sarabu, Avinesh Saravana, Sophia Wang, Winston Yu, Benjamin Zelensky, Olivia Zeng, Callie Zhou

    7th: Amber Cao, Sai Chiravuri, Aaron Deng, Archishman Dey, Ayushman Dey, Avatarnandan Narayanan, Akhilesh Potakumuri, Zoey Wang

    6th: Amogh Gupta, Sophia Huang, Olivia Shin, Ted Zeng

    We will have a mandatory meeting for the parents and students of the above mentioned students, in the Solon Middle School Lecture Hall at 6:00 PM till 7:30 PM on Tuesday, September 26, 2023

    Thank you everyone for trying out. Have a great school year!

    About the Team

    Solon Middle School Science Olympiad teams have consistently performed at the National level for many years.  Solon Middle School has 8 National titles and is a legend in Science Olympiad. The team has placed in the top of the nation consistently since 2008. The reason we have had this level of success is teamwork, dedication and perseverance.

    A team consists of 15 students and an alternate.  There can be no more than 5 ninth grade students on a team.  There is no limitation on the number of sixth, seventh or eighth grade students.  We will select enough students to be able to compete with two teams at invitationals, so we will choose 32 students, which will include 2 alternates.  If we qualify for the state competition, we will have to then choose 15 students from the 32 to compete.

    We are fortunate to have experienced event coaches as part of our team. Many of them have had students go through the SMS Science Olympiad program.  Each one has coached and won at the national level. We would not be successful without their participation.

    Expectations

    We will focus on teamwork and dedication, but we will also focus on respect. We expect students to be dedicated and work very hard on their events. Maintaining a positive attitude, perseverance in the face of adversity, and the ability to learn from one’s mistakes are life lessons that we promote. 

    Events

    There are 23 events in a competition.  Most events are written test events (we call them brain events).  Some of these events have a laboratory or a hands-on aspect to them, as well.  There are also four build events.  These are events which require the student to build a device to prescribed specifications and perform with that device in a prescribed competition.

    Each event requires two students, with the exception of Experimental Design, which has three students.  Since each competition team has 15 students, that means each student, on average, will have to be ready to perform in at least 3 events at each competition.  New team members, 6th and 7th graders will be studying 4 events, returning 8th + 9th graders will have 5 - 6 events.           

    A comprehensive list of the events and the rules can be found on the SMS Science Olympiad page.

    Preparation

    We prepare for competitions from October through December, (which is not a lot of time to prepare for 23 team events), after which we start competing at different invitationals almost every weekend till the first week of March. We will rely heavily on texts and emails, so make sure your student checks their emails regularly.

    We will arrange a short informational meeting with the entire team, weekly, where we will talk about upcoming events, organizational information and general topics.  Event coaches will establish a meeting schedule with the students participating in that event.  Each event meeting will be no more than 40 minutes.  This is not enough time to produce a successful team.  Students MUST put in time outside the weekly meetings.  Many coaches will schedule additional times for specific team events.  Build events will require shop time to build and additional time to launch/fly/ practice the event, and we are still working on how to accomplish this.  All meetings are mandatory. 

    Fund Raising

    Running a Science Olympiad team with national aspirations takes money. We will be collecting $75.00 from each student at the start of the season to offset some costs like state and invitational registration fees, rules manuals, team shirt, supplies etc. 

    In Conclusion

    Please remember your student is trying out for one of the best teams in the nation and we have to be very selective. We will use all resources, event coaches, teachers, school administrators and staff and weigh their input to make the final decision, and the team members for the year 2023-2024 will be posted on the Solon Middle School website at the end of September.

    Please feel free to contact us with any questions regarding the tryouts :     smstryouts@gmail.com

    Dave Brewer and Deepa Nair