The Niles West Science Olympiad team placed third in the Regional Science Olympiad Competition at Oakton Community College on March 16, which leads them to the State Science Olympiad tournament.

While multiple members earned gold, silver, and bronze medals, the wins also include fourth and sixth places, and individuals that contributed to the third placement which will allow the team to return to state.

“We have many talented students, including the many seniors that will be graduating this year,” coach and science teacher Elizabeth Ramseyer said.

“My favorite moment of the competition was hearing “Niles West” announced as the third place winner of the Regional final with a seed to the state competition,” senior and gold medalist Sheryl Cherian said.

“Announc[ing] that Sheryl Cherian and I had won our event […] was one of the last events to be announced, so we had to wait for a long time, but it was worth the wait,” senior and gold medalist Patrick Liscio said.

The competition consists of 23 events, which include earth science, biology, chemistry, and lab activities. The students, in partners of two, compete against other schools’ teams, such as New Trier’s, which Niles West beat in four events.

“It’s always exciting to see all of our hard work pay off, especially when we defeat the nationally-ranked team, New Trier, in the process,” Cherian said.

As the team competed for state, coach Ramseyer was on the lookout for incoming freshmen with potential.

“We got to see Park View compete, so it was nice seeing the talent that is coming from the feeder school,” Ramseyer said.

“If I had to make a suggestion to incoming freshmen, it would be to get involved early on in high school.  I know that everyone says this, but I think that it is really important to find some interesting extracurricular to do,” Liscio said.

“Incoming freshmen interested in science or looking to explore an academic team should consider Science Olympiad,” Cherian said.