The Olympiad team is excited to start the year off with a positive attitude, great motivation and team spirit, according to team coach Jenny Magdal.

Magdal said Science Olympiad is important because it provides students with experience in scientific fields.

“The purpose of Science Olympiad is to enhance the knowledge of science, technology and engineering,” she said.

Junior Winter Morgan said the team is focusing on teamwork and collaboration to understand reason of science.

“We are growing as a team and sharing our knowledge with the junior high students,” Morgan said.

This year, the team is focusing on expanding its numbers in order to be more competitive at meets, according to senior captain Declan Fruchtman.

“Our Science Olympiad team has always been just a small team,” Fruchtman said. “Mounds View High School always beats us because they have a larger team, which gives them an advantage over us.”

The Science Olympiad as a team would appreciate having high school students come together and help them out with competitions, Morgan said.

“I would be thrilled to see more students participating in Science Olympiad and see them take part in such a great team,” Morgan said.

The Science Olympiad team has increased in size, compared to this year and last year’s participants, Morgan said.

“The team had five members last year, and this year the team doubled in its size,  making it 10 members,” Morgan said.

Inspired by the high school team, freshman Freja Olsen said she started a Science Olympiad team at the junior high. With the help of her mom, Olsen recruited students and petitioned for the administration to give junior high students an opportunity to participate in the activity. Olsen said she started the team to further her own science knowledge.

“I am really into science, and I thought that it would be great to start a Science Olympiad team at the junior high,” she said.
Senior captain Eli Roehlkepartain said he believes the junior high team is an important step toward success for high school Science Olympiad and hopes the two teams can work together in the future.

“We’d like to get to know the junior high better to prepare them for the high school team,” Roehlkepartain said.

Morgan said she thinks the junior high team is important to students.

“Science is very important by helping junior high students invoke their love for science and level of curiosity,” Morgan said.

With the addition of new members, Magdal said she has high hopes for the team, considering the fact that Science Olympiad made it to State last year for the first time in eight years.

Morgan also said that with the expansion of the team it gives them a chance to make it to State.

“Our goal by the end of this year would be to make it to state,” she said.

Science Olympiad meets every Wednesday after school in room A308.

Students interested in part of the team should contact Magdal or either of the team captains.