Science Olympiad teamed up with Southview to host an Invitational for over 50 teams from more than 30 schools, including NV’s own Gold, Black, and White teams on December 3. The team’s second invitational of the year, on home soil, required extra preparation and help to get the job done.

The main setup for the event happened the day before. After school, the team gathered in advisor Andy Roth’s classroom to hear instructions, set up signs, and take pictures of the rooms teams would be staying in. Along with that, they brought in boxes of food to the cafeteria and set up tables to hold the food. 

Not only did the team have a lot of work to do, but the captains were working hard to prepare as well. “About two and a half weeks in advance is when captains start prepping for [the invitational],” Science Olympiad captain, junior Tristan Swangstu said. “There’s a lot that goes on behind the scenes that the majority of team members don’t see. For starters, we have to make the entire awards slides, we have to make all the TV slides that go on the TVs, we have to assign all the home bases, we have to organize all the teams … captains kind of pick up the slack, so to speak. But I mean, that’s just part of the list. It goes on and on and on. I was stressing the entire day, not about competing in my events, but making sure the tournament went smoothly.”

Preparation was also hard for Mr. Roth, the Science Olympiad coach and science teacher. “We’ve been doing it for over 10 years,” Mr. Roth said. “I’ve chased down some coaches because they don’t fill in the paperwork quite right … There’s lots and lots and lots of stuff that happens behind the scenes. It’s not like we just show up on a Saturday and everything’s good to go.” 

The competition is the second in the season for the team, after the first ‘practice’ invitational. Starting in the morning on Saturday, the team arrived at 6:30 to finish preparations. After going over the day, the team split up, with some staying in the room, and the others going to help the newcomers find their rooms. The first event block started at 9am and continued in 55 minute blocks until 3:25pm, with a short break for lunch in the middle. 

At the end of the day, awards were held in the main gym. For each event, the top eight places were named, and given medals. The top eight schools overall were given trophies as well. Since they were hosting the event, NV and SV did not get any trophies or medals during the awards ceremony. 

“It is standard practice in Ohio,” Mr. Roth said. “The host school does not take any medals. Not everybody does that, but some of the stronger teams choose to do that. It spreads the joy of getting medals to other people.” 

After the awards ceremony, the team headed to the cafeteria along with SV for a team dinner, awards of their own, and afterward, to a party at a teammate’s house. During the team dinner, ranks were read out for each team and medals were given to those who were placed in the top eight. 

The tournament was the last of the year for the team, who is preparing for the upcoming invitational in January. 

“I just hope we continue to get better and continue to get stronger and have more fun,” Mr. Roth said. 

“My hopes for the year is that the team continues to have fun, we get a lot of team bonding, because we haven’t yet, and really, we just get closer and closer as time goes on and we’re able to perform better and better,” Swangstu said. “I’m proud of this team and I look forward to the future.”