After months of preparation, the Townsend Harris Science Olympiad (SciOly) team qualified for the NY State Tournament at Le Moyne College in Syracuse, New York. From March 17 to March 18, members in Team A competed in a series of testing and build events showcasing their scientific knowledge. There were 23 events, ranging from building complex devices to identifying different rocks. Out of the 59 schools in attendance, THHS took 11th place. 

“The States Tournament has always been one of the most important competitions,” said Vice President of SciOly and senior Stacey Jiang. “I looked forward to [this competition] the most since the beginning of the season.”

The competition was a test of the time and effort each member had put in. “Everyone was really stressing and trying to cram in as much as they could, even though we’ve all been studying for months prior,” said junior Danny Ng.

Many said they felt accomplished to compete after all of their great efforts. Junior Jie Xuan Tang said, “[This] was the place that our whole team has been working towards for a whole 3-4 months.”

Reflecting on the results of the competition, junior Sami Sharif said, “I thought the competition went fairly well for the team.” He continued, “We wanted to do a bit better, but I’m satisfied with the turnout. It shows how hard we’ve all been working.”

Team members participated in three to five events. In every event, their ranking was calculated, then combined with the rankings of the other events to get the final team ranking “I got to see how every event and every member played a role in the team’s placement,” said Jie Xuan.

“After each event, we would all come back and look either really happy or sad; that’s just the nature of the competition,” said Danny. 

Apart from the testing sessions, the team had made sure to have a good time. “Throughout the competition, we had fun chilling in the classroom [between our events], where we messed around and played games like Heads Up together,” said Danny.

While most members will be able to return next season, this was the finale of the seniors’ Science Olympiad run. “I will definitely miss these competitions, especially States, because I was able to meet people from other top schools and discuss interests we share,” said Stacey.