The Stow Munroe-Falls Science Olympiad team competed in the Regional Competition at University of Akron on Sat., March 14.

Science Olympiad is an academic club that competes in science-related events at designated schools. These events are known as “invitationals” and are, for reference, very similar to Speech and Debate tournaments. Both involve multiple students from several schools competing in many different categories to prove their ability to display their knowledge about one of any several areas.

The challenges can range from recalling simple information about the skeletal system of the human anatomy to explaining an electric circuit to a panel of judges. These are tests that truly exemplify the talent, ability and skill of the people performing them and require an incredible amount of advanced preparation.

Most schools have an actual class period dedicated to Science Olympiad, but Stow’s team meets once a week for an hour to discuss plans for the next event they will attend.

“We have competed in three different invitationals, and this is the culmination of our season,” teacher David Helmick said.

These three previous invitationals have only been preparing the team for the Regional Competition, which will be held at Akron University. If the team earns a position among the top six Science Olympiad teams in this region, the team will proceed to the State Level Competition in Columbus.

This is not an unheard of feat. In 2010, both the middle school and high school teams qualified to go to the state competition. They returned home with their heads held high but without the necessary qualifications to proceed to the national level invitational.

Since then, the middle school team has dissolved, but the hope that the high school team will prevail still exists.

The team’s outlook has been overwhelmingly positive. Many are confident that this will be the year the high school Science Olympiad team returns to the State Invitational. The team is fired up and ready to give it their best shot.

“I think that if there is going to be any year where we go to states, [it is] going to be this year,” senior Mia Hamilton said “we have a lot of good, passionate people who have the same goal in mind so it is really easy to be motivated. I want there to be another award for Science Olympiad in the trophy cabinet and know that [I am] part of the reason why it is there.”

The results of the Regional Competition will be posted online at Stohion.com as soon as they are available.