By Christian Lum
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The Science Olympiad competition was a huge success for MHS students. The competition, held on March 4, comprised of several teams who took home the gold and silver in various events. Science Olympiad is a science technology and mathematics (STEM) competition, which is aimed at preparing primary and secondary students for a field of study of their choice.
“It’s sort of like a track meet where you will have a team of students that will compete in individual events and then the teams’ score is based on how each of them did in the events. It is a mix of different types of events. You are studying for an exam in certain areas like rock and minerals, or astronomy, and things like that, and some of the events you are actually building something like a bridge or a tower building. You come to the event and you are judged on how well you perform,” said AP Physics teacher and Science Olympiad organizer Tyson Kikugawa.
The students involved in this extracurricular activity can gain all types of valuable knowledge and insight—not only knowledge involving a STEM subject, but social skills as well. “For some of them, it’s just understanding what it means to be on a team and developing teamwork skills. You also develop a sense of pride in your work because some of the things you have to do, you are going to have to do on your own time. If it’s not in class, then it could be a club, or an after school activity. In some respects you are are getting more than what is covered in the classroom. You are getting topics that might not be covered in the traditional classroom,” said Kikugawa.
Students dedicated much of their time to preparing for the events. “We placed third in astronomy, second in rocks and minerals, and first in Remote Sensing,” said team captain Senior Zachary Higa. “We tried to take the initiative and so we had study session on the holidays and weekends. I wanted to make sure that we were prepared and that they would do well. They were really prepared this year.”
The Science Olympiad also helped students with similar interests to meet and put their heads together. In the process students could help each other really create something great. Students may also develop lifetime friendships with people that have similar interests as they do. “It helped me to get to meet people who are interested in similar ideals that I’m into. It helps to bring us together and honestly I can say that over the past four years that I have done Science Olympiad I can say that I really enjoy it,” stated Higa.
Students have discovered personal talents. “We see some of our students that you would think is a builder type person, but they are in a builder event and they end up doing very well. It’s rewarding in a sense that you get to see the kids in a different setting,” said Kikugawa. “A lot of my students in previous years found their niche, basically found out what they wanted to do in the future through Science Olympiad. For example I have a former student who graduated from MIT and is now an electrical engineer.,” explained AP Chemistry teacher and Science Olympiad aide Namthip Sitachitta.
The Science Olympiad had a number of events going on during the state competition. The diversity in topics allowed all types of students to find their specific niche. “There are 17 events and again they span a wide variety of STEM events. There are engineering events, Life science events, physical science events, there are programming events where students have to program a game. It is a state funded event so we competed against other schools,” said Kikugawa.
This was the last competition of the school year. The next tournament will be a Mililani Invitational held in November.
