I was just thinking this morning about a very interesting question for all of you folks out there that I was curious of hearing about. How did you first learn of Science Olympiad, why did you start doing it in the first place, and why do you keep doing it despite all the challenges that may come in your way?
I'll start out with my own story about this topic. It was actually an accident sort-of that I started doing Science Olympiad. In retrospect, the event that got me doing it may never have happened. Flashback to October 2011, when my school hosted this JP Day, basically a fundraiser for our school with lots of fun events. Our marching band had a competition at MetLife Stadium the same evening, but fortunately (especially when considering this couldn't happen the previous year nor the next year) the drum majors allowed us to have the time to go to the event from 12 - 4 PM. I walk in, see what's going on. I see "Science Jeopardy!". Me, being obsessed with Roger Craig's win on the Jeopardy! Tournament of Champions earlier that year, wanted to see what was going on. Also, I loved science, although at that time I think I was still interested more in history and politics. I walk in and see the captains, some student volunteers, and the coach at the time. I get very excited, although not necessarily because of Science Olympiad (keep in mind I had never heard of SciOly at this point); I wanted to play the game! I sit down, and the people helping out set me up with the buzzer and tell me to pick a category. Over the course of the afternoon, I enjoy myself annoying one of the captains with my choice of Astronomy


I keep on doing Science Olympiad in some way, shape or form because I love the camaraderie that everyone has. In other competitions, cutthroat competition occurs and it can get pretty intense to the point of sometimes boiling over. Fortunately, that doesn't really happen in Science Olympiad, and even when we have to compete against each other, it's in the name of science, curiosity, and simply wanting to win. We have massive respect for each other and don't want to diss the other side, which is so refreshing to here. Also, as I mentioned earlier, the want to satisfy our curiosity. There's a lot of things that we still don't know as high school and college students, and I've learned that through my 4 years of competing in SciOly. In addition, you get the variety of events that is so nice to see. Even though I compete mainly in Astronomy, I still got a taste of the other sides of science though Entomology, Forestry, It's About Time, and others. It really opens your horizons about what's possible out there and gives you a greater perspective in life and your career. Finally, I love the fact that there's not just one type of event. There's build, lab, and study events. It gives a variety that honestly not too many competitions out there have. Most of the competitions are either just study events (USAMO, USAPO, USABO, other International Olympiads), lab (Siemens, other lab competitions that I can't remember right now), or build (Odyssey of the Mind, other build competitions that I can't remember right now). Yet Science Olympiad fuses all three types very seamlessly and in a way that really edifies us in a way that I think no other competition can.
What about you? What are your thoughts on this topic?