Clarence Science Olympiad Team Earns Spot in State Competition

Across a wide range of areas of study and competitions, students on Clarence High School’s Science Olympiad team have built chemistry and found a formula for success through a love of science and an emphasis on hard work beyond their classes.

“People are taking a lot of time and making a commitment to the club, and that’s led to the success we’ve had,” said junior Vedhanth Chakravarti, who leads the Science Olympiad Club with senior James Jiang. 

The team will challenge themselves against the best in New York in the state competition on March 20-21 in Syracuse after qualifying with a fourth place finish among the 30 teams in the regional qualifier event at the end of January. The competition, described as an academic track meet, challenges students in competitions that include subject matter tests, hands-on engineering work and demonstrations of scientific principles. At the regional qualifier, Clarence’s team had top three finishes in events that tested students’ knowledge of astronomy and oceanography along with challenges that had students building an electric vehicle, and another involving students using bungee cords to bring a weighted bottle to a landing surface. 

“Not only do they have to have a science background, but a technical skill to build things and a laboratory skills to complete an experiment and pair it with the testing they’re doing,” said Dr. Katalin Posch, who advises the team with fellow teacher Kassidy Gaik. “It means going to a higher level beyond their classwork.”

The Science Olympiad club has grown in recent years, reflecting an interest among students to challenge themselves. Gaik said she was impressed with the students’ preparation as they competed at the regional competition.

“It’s so much work on their own time,” she said. “It credits the hard work they’ve done.”

Despite the academic focus of the competition, Vedanth said club members bond around being around students with a similar love of science.

“It’s nice to be around people that aren’t taking the class to pass, but are excited about it and ready to take the time to do this,” he said. 

The club’s A team which qualified for states was made up of James Jiang, Vedanth Chakravarti, Alex Tomasula, Isabelle Luk, Jaydheep Rajaram, Audrey Wagner, Ellie Zhu, Fabia Zahra, Kian Banifatemi, Taylor Yeung, Leila Hu, Owen Zdrojewski, Evan Pawlak, Ellie Fortunato and Julia Mu. 

More information about the Science Olympiad can be found at https://newyorkscioly.org/