Photo courtesy Melissa Zheng

This is one of the models Science Olympiad students made for their upcoming tournament.

 After their first competition in December, the students in Science Olympiad (SciOly) are working hard with hopes to score high at their next competition this weekend. The second invitational SciOly competition of the 2018-19 season will take place this Saturday,January 7 at Fairfax High School in Virginia.

Each invitational event is centered around a couple topics, with each having different ways of asking students to display their knowledge. Students can be asked to take written tests, create labs or even have to construct a plane and that flies, for example. One of the subject areas students will be tested on this weekend is anatomy.

“For anatomy we are just given a test. It will be similar to a regular test given in school, but the questions are more in depth,” senior Melissa Zheng said. “I’m currently studying the lymphatic, cardiovascular and excretory systems. The entire test will focus on these three topics so I’m working on remembering all the different processes and details.”

The team gathered at lunch to further prepare for competitions. Junior Aaron Epstein has been working with his partner for two months on a mousetrap car that they will show off this weekend. The event requires teams of two to build a mousetrap car that can push a cup eight meters across a flat surface.

“We created a good design and I think we will do very well,” Epstein said. “Last competition, I made a very large car with wheels covered in balloons, but it was too big so it didn’t go far enough. Now, I’m trying different wheel sizes and a much smaller frame.”

Both Zheng and Senior Emily Choi joined SciOly five years ago. Choi was a junior officer last year and she is currently the Co-President of the team this year.

“We have some strong participants and hard working people so hopefully we can get single digits, so between first and ninth place. That’s our goal,” Choi said.