As a freshman walking timidly down the labyrinthine halls of my high school, I was bombarded with flyers from various clubs. I impulsively put my name and phone number down on the sign-up sheet for Science Olympiad. At the time, it was just a thoughtless act of someone trying to get through the crowd. The night before the first Science Olympiad club meeting, I got a call from the club’s president, reminding me to show up. Wanting to try something new and step outside of my comfort zone, I showed up.
I definitely was not aware of the vast intellectual and personal growth that I would experience through Science Olympiad.
In my opinion, Science Olympiad is one of the most meaningful clubs that everyone should join. Here are 5 reasons why:
- You become a self-motivated person. Due to the uniqueness of the different competitive events that Science Olympiad offers, you’re pretty much on your own to study a completely unfamiliar branch of science. You will develop a stellar study habit and it will carry out to every other aspect of your life.
- Your teammates turn into your family. My closest friends are people I’ve met through Science Olympiad. We travel together, have fun in the hotel lobby and sing our hearts out on the bus. Spending so much time together, you really get to know everyone’s personalities and stories (even those embarrassing ones from middle school). Not to mention, Science Olympians make the best study group!
- You’ll have superior guessing skill. The amount of content you’re responsible for in Science Olympiad is endless. Let’s face it, you won’t know the answer to every single question being asked on any given test. You learn how to finesse yourself through tests, making educated guesses by incorporating your background knowledge and common sense.
- You gain research skills. Many successful Science Olympians know that you can never know too little, so we tend to get a little extreme with our research. You will truly get to practice researching scientific topics.
- You’ll be inspired. You will be inspired by your coach, by your teammates, by other teams and even by yourself! You’ll always be surrounded by people giving off positive energy. Your teammates’ dedication will inspire you to work harder and make you truly feel like you belong in the Science Olympiad community.
Yes, it is exhausting and stressful, but I will do it all over again. As much as I hate staying up until 2 a.m. to cram and then wake up at 5 a.m. to head to the tournament, everything is worth it. The chaos of the competition, the joy of a team who did well or the regret of the team who didn’t do quite good on their event will all enrich your experience. At the end of the day, you will look back at all the progress you’ve made and be so glad you didn’t give up.
