Once again, Pinecrest High School’s Science Olympiad team has begun their meetings. Science Olympiad is a team competition where students compete in science related events. For the past seven years, the team has been growing and growing. Last year, Pinecrest placed second at regionals and fourteenth at states.  

 

The Science Olympiads  will be going to Campbell University on February 17, 2018. This is an entire month before last year’s competition. There are new events this year: Ecology, Herpetology, Hovercraft, Ping Pong Parachute, and many others. After the regional competition, the states competition will be in April. Hopefully, the Science Olympiads will continue their streak of moving on to states.

 

Senior Paul Sartorelli and junior Allyson Harvel are both captains this year. Mrs. Jan Kubla, a biology teacher at Pinecrest and the sponsor of the team,  and the captains will decide who will compete on what event. The team will be divided up for each event, each event having two people competing.

 

The team meets every other Friday morning at 8:15. During these meetings, the captains discuss the different events and check up on the other teammates. As the year continues, the team will meet on Saturdays afternoons so they can work with their partners and test their building events. Since meetings are limited, preparing for the events will be independent work. However, Pinecrest will be able to provide the supplies if needed.

 

“I'm really excited about this year,” Harvel said. “I think we have a really strong group of competitors in all four grades.  I have a feeling we are going to do very well at regionals, as long as everyone works hard and has synergy within their partnerships.”

 

Along with the captains, the team members are ready for this year. Junior Maya Difrischia said, “I’m optimistic about this year. I think we have a lot of new people and have the potential to really blow this year out of the water!”

 

"We are tremendously excited about building a strong Science Olympiad team this year,” said Kubla. “We are competitive with returning teammates, as well as freshmen students. We hope to capture first place!”