Science Olympiad is scheduled to participate in their first invitational of the year, the Hinsdale Invitational, Saturday, Dec. 10 at Hinsdale High School.
Science Olympiad at Niles West was started in 1994 by Science teachers Elizabeth Ramseyer and Chris Barnett. The first year the team was created they went to state and medaled, and every year since then have qualified for state. The coaches are Ramseyer, Barnett, and fellow Science teachers Chris Hawker and Howard Swider.
Barnett is hoping the team will compete well and improve during the competition.
“We are hoping to have everybody improve as much as possible. For many people this will be their first competition,” Barnett says.
The events the team will be participating in are Anatomy, Astronomy, Chemistry Lab, Disease Detectives, Dynamic Planet, Experimental Design, Fermi Question, Forensic Science, Forestry, Microbe Mission, Optics, Protein Modeling, Remote Sensing, Rocks and Minerals, Technical Problem Solving, Thermodynamics, Water Quality, Write It Do It, Gravity Vehicle, Helicopters, Robot Arm, Sounds of Music, and Tower Building.
Senior Zoya Momin wants the team to see how Niles West compares to other schools.
“We have a high chance of winning. We want to see how well we compare and how well we’ve done. We want to see how much more effort we need to put in,” Momin says.
Junior Lyba Zia wants the team to eventually qualify for state.
“Last year we placed second at Regionals. Hopefully we get first place and get to state and bring home medals and trophies,” Zia says.
The members that will be attending the Invitational are freshmen Brendan Conkle, Imran Kahn,Lucas Yun, Chris Matei, Jessica Klier,Carlos Maxwell, Christian Marin, and Reyun Reyes; sophomores Josmi Joseph, Sarah Chamness, Purva Chandel, and Emmanuel Picazo; juniors Sheryl Cherian, Lucy Chang, Kiki Platek, Alex Studer,Samantha Barnes,Rishi Patel, Ryan Cyriac, Femin Gheewala, Lyba Zia, Awais Ahmed,Connor Dyer, Anna Hochberg, Michelle Kim, and Nate Pichler; and seniors Zoya Momin, Brinda Shah, Temesgen Gebrekristos, and Andy Rapoport.
The next competition is at Loyola in February.
