Northwood is runner-up at Science Olympiad Regionals
After months of preparation, Northwood’s Science Olympiad team claimed 2nd place out of the 20 teams present at the Orange Country Regional Competition held at Golden West College on March 12.
Of the 15 events, Northwood placed 1st in four – Dynamic Planet, Ecology, Ornithology and Physics Lab – and medaled in the top six in all but five events.
The top six teams at Regionals advance to the Southern California State Competition which will be held on April 10 at Cabrillo High School. Two other IUSD High Schools made the cut: Irvine High in 4th place and University High in 6th.
The overall ranking of a school was determined by the sum of its students’ rankings in each event – the lower the sum, the higher the rank.
With 27 fewer points than Northwood, Troy High School won the Regional Competition. As the winner of seven of the last 14 National Science Olympiad competitions, Troy has been Northwood’s long-time rival. Although both have excellent teams, Northwood has never been able to advance to the national competition because only the 1st place winner at the State Competition qualifies, and Troy has won at State for the past 14 years.
This year, Northwood hopes to finally defeat Troy and advance to nationals. The team’s hopes are high as this is the first year that the students have had coaches for individual events.
With only a few weeks left before State, the team will be studying hard both individually and at their six-to-eight-hour weekend meetings.
So if you see a stressed-out Science Olympian buried in books in the coming weeks, be sure to wish him or her good luck against Troy at State!
