Multiple Palatine High School students won medals at the Science Olympiad Tournament on Jan. 27 at Crystal Lake Central High School.
Science Olympiad is an afterschool club where students study specific science topics with the intent to win medals, improve their skills, or just kill any free time that students have.
“[The] Science Olympiad tournament is a scientific competition where students compete against other teams to see who knows a variety of different scientific subjects better,” said Patrick Rauen, a Science Olympiad coach. “It’s just fun to show what you know and what you can do.”
Before the tournament at Crystal Lake, students woke up around 5 a.m. to head to Palatine so that they could be ready to leave for Crystal Lake. After arriving at the school, students helped carry containers —filled with objects unbeknownst to some— of science equipment to the first floor which they would carry onto a bus around 30 minutes later.
Not only did Crystal Lake Central host a competition, but also a scavenger hunt and talent show, with both events giving out prizes. To win the scavenger hunt, students had to traverse the school to find tigers and foam carrots, with the school with the most carrots and tigers winning a foot-long stuffed tiger. For the talent show, individuals competed to win a $50 gift card.
Unfortunately for the team, Palatine won neither of these events. Mainly because 1: students weren’t compelled to find carrots, and 2: nobody competed in the talent show. Although, even if they had, the results probably would’ve stayed the same.
While proctors were preparing results, many other students were participating in the optional talent show. A few of the groups in the show were five men singing “Frozen” while off-pitch, a duo singing all the elements of the periodic table that had an impressively long breath, and people who made balloon animals. Another beloved event was karaoke with a few songs like “I’m Just Ken,” from the “Barbie” movie; “Love is an Open Door,” from “Frozen,” and “You Belong With Me,” by Taylor Swift.
At 4:30 p.m., the entertainment ended when the awards were being announced. The ceremony ended with Palatine’s Megan Cox winning first place in anatomy and Vanessa Pavlov and Zara Stanimirova winning second in astronomy
Although Palatine’s Science Olympiad did not win many medals, there are more chances in future events.
“[Crystal Lake] was practice for our regional that will be in March,” stated Jaclyn Friel, a Science Olympiad coach and PHS biology teacher, “where that’s going to determine when we go to state or not. So this tournament should get us more practice doing that.”
After the ceremony finished, students went back onto the bus and arrived back at Palatine around 5:40 p.m. While the tournament may not have gone well for some, for others it was a great experience.
Pavlov, a student who earned the first place medal, notes that, “[Winning] feels pretty rewarding. I’m surprised every time. Not even surprised, [I’m] shocked.”
To win a medal is an amazing achievement, but it’s not the only thing driving most students to compete against other schools. To some, there are other reasons they stay in Science Olympiad.
“I really love being in Science Olympiad because I’m surrounded by so many great people and it’s just really fun to compete,” Pavlov said.
