Science Olympiad
Advisors: Mr. Narayanan, Ms. Yudovina & Mr. Huang
Meets: Tuesdays, Thursdays
Times: Evenings
2024-2025 SMS Science Olympiad DivB Team
9th graders:
William Hu, Evelyn Jin, Samuel Joo, Samipa Patel, Sofia Patro, Shawn Samuel, Arihant Sarabu, Avinesh Saravana, Sophia Wang, Benjamin Zelenskiy, Olivia Zeng
8th graders:
Evan Bai, Kamil Balci, Amber Cao, Sai Sreehan Chirravuri, Aaron Deng, Archishman Dey, Ayushman Dey, Nandan Jayaprakash, Andy Mo, Akhilesh Potakamuri, Zoey Wang
7th graders:
Nicole Bao, Hari Chimalakonda, Amogh Gupta, Sean Hua, Sophia Huang, Sreethan Machana, Mahayra Rai, Aarush Sahoo, Aayush Sahoo, Olivia Shin, Daniel Song, Ted Zeng, Daniel Zhang, Michael Zhang
6th graders: Sophia Chen, Madiha Khan, Harvey Ragsdale
Science Olympiad Tryouts for Grades 6-9
The Solon Middle School Division B Science Olympiad team is implementing new tryout procedures this year. Please submit your tryout form via Google Forms: 2025 Science Olympiad Tryout Form.
Ninth-grade students must first try out for the Division B Team by expressing interest, applying, and accepting a team placement if selected.
Deadline: The tryout form for all students must be submitted by September 6th at 11:59 p.m.
Tryout Date: September 13th, between 4 and 5 p.m. at Solon Middle School cafeteria.
Here is the draft rules for 2025 events: 2025_draft_rule. The official rules will be released on Sep 3rd, 2024. Check out the link here: https://www.soinc.org/rules-2025
About the Team
Solon Middle School Science Olympiad teams have consistently performed at the national level for many years, boasting 8 national championship titles. The team has placed among the top in the nation consistently since 2008. This level of success is attributed to teamwork, dedication, and perseverance.
A team consists of 15 students and alternates. No more than 5 ninth-grade students are allowed on a team, with no limitation on the number of sixth, seventh, or eighth-grade students. We will select enough students to compete with two teams at invitationals, choosing 34 students in total, including 4 alternates. If we qualify for the state competition, 15 students will be chosen from the pool of 34 to compete.
We are fortunate to have experienced event coaches who have had students go through the SMS Science Olympiad program. Each coach has won at the national level, and their participation is integral to our success.
Expectations
We focus on teamwork, dedication, and respect. Students are expected to work hard on their events, maintain a positive attitude, persevere in the face of adversity, and learn from their mistakes—important life lessons we promote.
Events
There are 23 events in the competition. Most events are written tests (brain events), with some including laboratory or hands-on aspects. There are also five build events requiring students to build a device to prescribed specifications and compete with it.
Each event typically requires two students, except for events like Experimental Design and Code Busters, which require three. With 15 students per competition team, each student will participate in at least 3 events. New team members (6th and 7th graders) will study at least 4 events, while returning 8th and 9th graders will study 5-6 events.
A comprehensive list of events and rules can be found on the SMS Science Olympiad Google tryout form.
Preparation
We prepare for competitions from October through December, after which we compete at various invitationals almost every weekend until the regional competition in early March. Communication will rely heavily on texts and emails, so students must check their emails regularly.
We will have weekly regular sessions on Tuesdays and Thursdays between 6:30 pm and 9 pm and additional build practice sessions on Sunday afternoons. This includes weekly short informational meetings with the entire team to discuss upcoming events and general topics. Event coaches will establish a meeting schedule with the students for their specific events, each meeting lasting no more than 45 minutes. Students must dedicate additional time outside these meetings to ensure success. Coaches may schedule additional times for specific team events. Build events will require shop time and additional practice time, which we are still organizing. All meetings are mandatory.
Fundraising
Running a Science Olympiad team with national aspirations requires funding. We will collect $100.00 from each student at the start of the season to offset costs like state and invitational registration fees, rules manuals, team shirts, supplies, etc.
In Conclusion
Please remember that your student is trying out for one of the best teams in the nation, and we must be very selective. We will use input from event coaches, teachers, school administrators, and staff to make the final decision. The team members for the year 2024-2025 will be posted on the Solon Middle School website at the end of September.
Feel free to contact us with any questions regarding the tryouts at smsso.coaches@gmail.com.
Vera Yudoving, Jay Narayanan, and Wei Huang