The Illinois Science Olympiad division of the Science Team set a school record with a fourth place finish at state April 17.

This season the team placed at every invitational it attended and won first place at regionals for the second year in a row. 

Team member Thomas O’Connor, a junior, said, “I am really happy with where we placed.” 

The team had their best season ever despite having to adjust to an online competition format.

Team captain Lucy Nathwani said, “A lot of the competition format has changed with it being virtual. This season we used an online platform for the tests. At the beginning it was a big change, but the team handled it really well.” 

Even though the team placed fourth at state, members didn’t qualify for nationals as only teams that place first and second qualify. 

Thomas said, “We definitely performed really well this year but there is always room for improvement and, in the coming years, I think we will see improvement, but fourth at state is nothing to scoff at.” 

Lucy said the team has plans to improve in order to qualify for their first nationals competition next year.

She said, “Next year we will definitely be putting a greater emphasis on helping newer members of the team contribute sooner, as currently it’s mainly older members who contribute the most.”