On Feb. 16, the Science Olympiad team placed third at the (Regional? District? I’ll ask on that one) competition at Missouri S&T, allowing them to move on to state competition.

“The team won third place,” junior Jacob Drewniak said. “A bunch of people won individual awards, but the only way to go to state is if the team places, and luckily we got third.”

Along with a third place team ranking, many individual awards were also won, including junior Jacob Drewniak in the MagLev competition, where he had to build a magnetically levitating vehicle.

“Individually, that was the only event we actually got first in so I was really excited,” Drewniak said. “Especially since it’s my first year in Science Olympiad.”

To get ready for the recent competition, the team put long hours into preparation, ranging from building to researching.

“We have practice every Thursday after school,” Drewniak said. “Pretty much everyone comes in and either studies for their test events or they work on their build events or they work on their vehicles or other stuff.”

Even with all the right preparation, some areas are completely unknown until they truly experience the competition.

“For the build event, there’s no surprise,” Drewniak said. “They give you instruction sheets on exactly what’s going to happen but for test events its really…who knows. You’re allowed to bring in a binder that has information on your subject but who knows what’s actually on the test.”

Along with the unknowns that come along with the competition, there is also the pressure of your teammates relying on your success.

“The studying is long and hard,” senior Tyler Grant said. “During the test, it’s so intense, and there are a lot of people who are counting on you to do well.”

When attempting to move on to state competition, every place helps.

“In Science Olympiad, getting placed helps a lot,” senior co-president Abagail Campbell said. “Our only first place was Jacob Drewniak in Mag-Lev. It’s good that we took part in every subject instead of just taking last place in that subject by not having anyone there. You never know when somebody could place.”

As state approaches, the team is preparing for the tough competition.

“We got third place, beating Waynesville by one point,” senior co-president Adam Goff said. “This year, they decided to only take the top three to state instead the top four, so we got pretty lucky. For state, we need to study harder and improve our events.”

Even though the entire team is taking state seriously, they are all looking forward to enjoying the day.

“The best part of state is having the experience with my teammates,” Campbell said. “It’s always so stressful during the event, but afterward you get to hang out with like-minded people. It’s such a great day.”