Cape Science Olympiad moves up the ranks in state competition

Cape High’s Blue team placed sixth out of 45 teams in the statewide Science Olympiad competition March 1, a major improvement from placing 24th last year. The team also won 12 individual event medals.

Over the past year, the club has more than tripled, from fewer than 10 members to more than 30, prompting the school to create two teams, Blue and Yellow. Yellow placed 17th overall in the state competition and won five event medals.

“To me, it means a lot, and it’s a really exciting competition,” junior Joshua Cohen said. “It’s an experience where a bunch of students can come together and showcase how hard they’re going to work on things they’re passionate about.”

The 24 events centered around a wide range of topics, including anatomy, chemistry, ecology, physics, entomology, planetary science, forensics, pathology, robotics and more. Each was characterized as either a test event, lab event or build event.  

Most of the club members are in science-related pathways at Cape, like engineering, and plan to pursue a career in science. According to senior Edgardo Sabilon, much of what they learn in the classroom comes in handy in competitions.

Looking forward, the students hope to continue climbing the state-level ranks.

“This was my first time doing something like this, in a club like this, and I think I and everyone else did very good for their first year competing,” junior Ben Gaito said. “And I think we can do even better next year.”

“I can only see us getting better as we go on,” said junior Aaron Tikiob. “I can totally see us breaking into that first-place spot.”