On Saturday, March 16, the Science Olympiad regional competition took place at the University of Michigan. Unlike the previous invitationals, this competition was an official one— the schools that ranked first or second overall would go to states, while the rest would be eliminated.

At this stage of Science Olympiad, there are two teams for Clague: The primary team, also called the A team or the Red team, and the secondary team, also called the B team or the Blue team. Both are led by head coach Smitha Mohan. The Clague Red team placed second in the regional competition, being defeated by Slauson, short of only three points.

“Regionals was not that hard but [a] fun experience,” said seventh grader Aarav Tirumali, a member of the Clague Red team and participant in four events: Flight, Disease Detectives, Write It Do It, and Reach For the Stars. “It was the right balance of stress, fun, and fear if we did not make it to states. It was most stressful in the award ceremony when the truth would come out.”

While both Clague Red and Clague Blue participated, Clague Red will be the team going to states this year, as only one team can go per school.

“I’m excited for states because we made states and I want a states medal,” said seventh grader Christina Zhang, a member of the Clague Red team who participated in the events Air Trajectory and Ecology.

The state competition will be held in Kalamazoo, Michigan. Whichever school ranks first or second there will be moving on to participate in the national competition, which is going to be held in Lansing this year. 

“I am pretty excited for states because it’s the first time I’ve made it this far in Science Olympiad,” said seventh grader Jay Tavane, also a member of the Clague primary team. Tavane is a part of three events: Microbe Mission, Meteorology, and Towers. “The only thing I don’t like about going to states is that I have to study even more than before.”

In addition to simply studying the material, the SciOly team also has to grow stronger in terms of teamwork. Most events consist of two people, with the exception of Codebusters and Experimental Design, which have three members. Because of this, teamwork is an incredibly important element of Science Olympiad, and without a strong team, you cannot get a good ranking.

Making it to States was an amazing success, a result of immense hard work and effort put in by the Clague SciOly team. However, getting into nationals is a lot easier said than done. And so, the Clague Red team will be working harder than ever to earn a spot at nationals, as they succeeded in doing last year.