As students settle into the 2024-2025 school year, the new club leaders of Science Olympiad are beginning their journeys. Senior Jenney Huang and Sophomore Ashley Brachman, are the new president and vice president of the Townsend Harris High School Science Olympiad Team.
Jenney joined the club during her sophomore year. She said, “A lot of my upperclassmen friends recommended it to me and I was interested in seeing what science had to offer.” She explained the opportunities she received in the last two years, to explore numerous topics in-depth– topics she had never dived deep into before.
She was able to discover her passion for bioengineering through competitions and constant research. She said, “I was able to research for materials or research for help, and [do] practice problems […] [being a part of] Science Olympiad has definitely helped me in discovering what I want to major in.”
Ashley explained that her science journey began in the seventh grade. Her curiosity and passion for science led her teacher to recommend that she join the Science Olympiad team at her school and her involvement with the club has continued throughout high school.
Ashley expressed her interest in life sciences, saying that she has enjoyed being a part of the Anatomy and Physiology and Disease Detectives teams. She said, “[Being a part of these teams] has given me the opportunity to see what I’m interested in for a career. Anatomy for example is really hard but I kind of enjoy it, so it might be something that I consider.” She highlighted Biology and Chemistry as two of the most prominent and interesting subjects she’d like to be a part of in the future.
Jenney added that one of the major benefits of being in the Science Olympiad was building good relationships, allowing her to build connections with people and be a part of the science community. In particular, her friendships with the upperclassmen gave her opportunities to work closely with them and further understand her passions in STEM.
As president, she hopes to continue this tradition of friendship, allowing others to find their own passions and inspirations in the science field. “I aim to build a collaborative and enjoyable community,” she said.
Similar to Jenney, Ashley also believes that being involved in Science Olympiad has allowed her relationships with other students to grow. “I get the chance to interact with more people and develop stronger bonds […] I think that being more involved with people in the school allowed me to learn about the people around me [and] learn about the competitions. It gave me the sense that I could really guide a team and [guide] competitions during the season,” she said.
Moreover, she explained the benefits Science Olympiad provided her with during day-to-day science classes in school. She said, “It helped me a lot last year in chemistry because I was in forensics and a lot of the forensics knowledge that we used for Science Olympiad translated into Chemistry.” With this experience, she said she plans on taking physics-related events this year to guide her in AP Physics Hybrid, a program allowing students to take both regents and AP Physics 1 in the same year.
Jenney added that she originally found it challenging to organize meetings and what to present to their members— but by working together as a pair, alongside the other board members, she said the issues were quickly resolved. “Through communication and collaboration between the board members and coaches, we’ve been able to do pretty well and overcome challenges,” she said.
Ashley explained one of her struggles towards the end of each meeting is answering questions from members. “Though I like [answering the questions] sometimes things can get a little crazy – especially at the end of the meetings– but then I kind of lock-in and I just think,” she said. “I remember myself in middle school when I was just starting out.”
“[But] I really like my position thus far, because I can give guidance on something that I really know about and something that I can enjoy, “ she said.
Science teacher and one of the Science Olympiad coaches Ruben Durandis expressed his thoughts regarding the team leadership. “[Ashley and Jenney have] done a great job with outreach […] I was very surprised and glad to see the outcome they had at the interest meetings. Both [of the club’s] rooms were filled and that gives me hope for a good year,” he said.
Mr. Durandis further commended their hard work towards the Science Olympiad community and in their STEM classes. He said, “[Jenney] puts a lot of pride and effort into work and she really tries to do her best. She covers all her ends [and] she gives everything 100% effort […] Ashley is also the same way. It’s pretty cool to see that she is like locked in.”
He indicated two of the main things he expects Jenney and Ashley to do as leaders: being accessible to all the members and creating a comforting culture. “When you have a culture and everyone knows what we do, things just flow,” he said.
Mr. Durandis displayed his high hopes for the competitions this year, saying that there are “a lot of brilliant minds on the teams.” But even with the high standards, he said there is always a fun side to Science Olympiad which he wants people to see more often.
“I think this year is going to be legendary,” he said.
