There are always plenty of science jokes to be made. Even if they are only made periodically, some still find them sodium funny. CHS’ Science Olympiad team may appreciate the humor but also takes their science seriously, even taking it to the next level. This year at the 31st Annual Los Angeles Regional Science Olympiad on Feb. 18 at Antelope Valley College the team, led by captains Charlotte Cheng and Jonathan Kula, demonstrated their passion and skill at the subject.

The Science Olympiad is an international, non-profit organization that is composed of approximately 23 rigorous events in the aforementioned categories designed to test and challenge students. For the regional competition, all of the many high schools in the LA county compete, hoping to go to State. Each member or pairing  (depending on the event) is ranked, which contributes to the team rank, that is then compared to the rankings of the other teams to determine who goes to State.

The team will be competing in different subjects, such as biology, anatomy, physics, chemistry, astronomy, computer science, and rocks and minerals. There are testing and construction events, and each member has to do three events; this could be a combination of testing and construction events or all of the same type. Team members choose events towards the beginning of the school year and prepare what they need to before the event. This year, CHS participated in events such as Optics, Forensics, Remote Sensing, Dynamic Planet, Hovercraft, and many more. Occasionally construction events also include a small testing portion as a part of the event.

“As always, it continues to be a fun experience. What’s also been awesome is that the school was able to pay for many of our materials this year, which means we have higher quality equipment for the events that require us to build things, like in the Towers or Robot Arm events,” Kula said.

Application announcements are made at the beginning of the year, and through an acceptance process, anyone can join. Acceptance is based on grades, interests, and even grade level in that a senior has a higher chance of getting in than a freshman due to their larger selection of science courses taken. The team meets every Wednesday after school to prepare together for their single, big competition towards the end of the school year. The team is composed of a JV team and a varsity team, and only the varsity team competes while the JV helps such as making study guides and preparing themselves for the next year when they would assumably be on the varsity team. The varsity team, like sports teams, is typically composed of juniors and seniors. Considering this, Cheng who has been on the team for three years, was able to compete her first year and was the only sophomore on the 2015 varsity team.

“My favorite part of the process is preparing for the competition. It’s exciting to collaborate and learn about topics that we wouldn’t be able to learn at school. Science Olympiad was a good opportunity to explore more branches of science,” Cheng said.

This year at Antelope Valley College the CHS team came it at fifteenth among thirty three other teams in this division. As it is very difficult to go to state, only the top three teams in each division attend, and so the team is still proud of their accomplishment. Now that their season has ended, they have time to rest and turn their attention to next season’s challenges.