At the beginning of the 2024-2025 school year, the Science Olympiad team was nonexistent. There were no build meetings, study sessions, or thrill of a tournament. Now, we have a group of STEM-driven and dedicated students who have proven their passion for science by competing in the New Jersey Science Olympiad Regionals Tournament at the University of Cranford New Jersey on January 17th.
Science Olympiad is a competition that encourages students to participate in hands-on STEM activities. Consisting of multiple events, Science Olympiad competitions rotate certain events to reflect the continuously changing and advancing nature of the sciences. It is essentially the science version of a track or swim meet: students prepare and compete in paired events (like a relay) to gain points for the team.
Similar to track or swim meets, events in Science Olympiad competitions vary. This year, our Science Olympiad team competed in 12 different events that consisted of builds and tests including Air Trajectory, Astronomy, Bungee Drop, and Disease Detectives. Students prepared for their respective events by either building structures for their build events or studying for knowledge tests. With an emphasis placed on teamwork, the Science Olympiad competition encouraged students to pursue their passions while also learning from their peers. The day-long competition, which students prepared tirelessly for, provided all who participated with a valuable experience.
Setting up this academic team was no easy task. We started organizing and planning the Science Olympiad late in the 2023-2024 school year. After meeting with several members of the Science Department, who provided valuable information on structuring the club, we were able to come up with ideas and plans for the group. As two students who are passionate about all things science— and one with a background from Science Olympiad competitions in middle school— we knew that we wanted to bring the competition to MBS.
Together, we explored the Science Olympiad website. We were fascinated by the multitude of events we would be able to participate in. These events included building towers, launching rockets, solving forensic puzzles, and participating in labs: challenges that we felt aligned with the intellectual curiosity of MBS students. However, turning this vision into reality meant finding a faculty advisor, recruiting members, planning for the field trip, and preparing for the events.
The beginning of the 2024-2025 school year marked the founding of Morristown Beard’s first Science Olympiad team. After we found our faculty advisor, Ms. Sakhi Patel, science department, we were able to begin our journey. We worked through many bumps in the road as newcomers to the process. The behind the scenes work required time and dedication, requiring weekly meetings with Ms. Patel to ensure a smooth process.
After creating the club team and ensuring our attendance at the competition, we were finally able to present the club to the school. Interested students joined the club, and we worked tirelessly up until the competition date. While we finalized the competition behind the scenes, we received the list of events for the competition. Those who participated chose between participating in builds and/or tests. Following the selection of events, our team began preparing for the nearing tournament. Partners competing in build events continuously built and refined their structures, later testing their creations according to tournament conditions. Simultaneously, partners participating in test events researched material, looked over past Science Olympiad exams, and organized binders to prepare for their event. Our 15 dedicated members truly devoted themselves to our team, and we are grateful for their hard work that created the amazing team we are today.
The morning of January 17th finally arrived: we were at MBS by 7:30am, finished packing our bus with builds and test materials, and began our journey to the University of Cranford. Once we arrived, we entered a shared room with other students from schools around New Jersey. Surrounded by like-minded peers, we experienced pride in bringing our school to this regional tournament.
All of the events we participated in went smoothly, and everyone walked away with a valuable experience. We worked hard, studied hard, and the results were well worth it. We were able to spend an entire day participating in engaging scientific activities and further exploring our passions. Two days after the tournament, the results were released on the website. Our team ended up placing fifth in Optics and seventh in Towers. By the end of the tournament, we were not only left with our school’s placement in all individual events, but also a sense of accomplishment. We spent hours building our club team from the ground up, turning it into an opportunity that MBS students and faculty will continue to take part in—an opportunity built on curiosity, hard work, perseverance, and a passion for science.
