Three 9th graders listen as Miss Styer explains the tasks for the Science Olympiad meeting that day. Photo Credit: Madeleine Nesbitt
In the Science Wing of York Suburban High School on the afternoon of Oct. 30, something was brewing. It will brew every Wednesday from three to four o’clock, until March, when a creature shall rise out of the mist and prove itself.
That creature is York Suburban High School’s Science Olympiad, which on March 8, 2014, will go to Millersville University to participate in the Pennsylvania Central Region Science Olympiad.
Co-advisors biology teachers Leslie Gentzyel and Erika Styer will advise the club this year. Gentzyel hopes for a stronger team this year, saying that last year’s team was “really young.” She is looking for new members who are “interested in science” and “very self-motivated.”
After the first few Science Olympiad meetings, the co-advisors and students decide on which event each student will participate in, students begin work to “prepare for their events.” Some students might be “building a robot” Gentzyel said, while others are “doing a lot of research.”
Gentzyel said the events are “a test [students] have to take or a lab [students] have to perform.” She said that she and Styer consider knowledge of content before placing students in events.
The students’ work pays off in March, when the team travels to Millersville University for the Science Olympiad competition. There, the students participate in the events they have practiced for at club meetings.
According to Millersville University’s Science Olympiad blog, York Suburban High School placed 18th overall in the 2013 competition. Suburban’s highest ranking team of students placed fourth in the “Disease Detectives” activity.
Sophomore Jonathan Abel, a member of Science Olympiad last year, called the competition the “best part” of participating in the the club. Last year, he worked on the teams for the “Remote Sensing”, “Elastic Launched Glider”, and “Boomilever” events, where York Suburban High School placed tenth,13th, and eighth respectively. He said the events were “fun” and “interesting.”
Both Gentzyel and Abel have high hopes for next year’s competition, and look forward to another year of Science Olympiad.