The Science Olympiad team recently competed virtually at two invitationals, where the varsity teams managed to place first in both, and the junior varsity teams placed in the top 20.

At the virtual tournament hosted by a school in Cypress Falls, Texas, on Nov. 7, the junior varsity teams placed 3rd and 20th, and at the invitation hosted by Belleville, Wisconsin, on Dec. 5, the one junior varsity team that competed placed 10th. 

Due to the coronavirus pandemic, these invitationals were held on Scilympiad, a virtual platform that Science Olympiad has created for online competitions. 

“It was pretty simple to use once we got the hang of it, which I’m glad we did early on, so now we are pretty comfortable with it,” said Adi Badlani, student captain. 

The invitational requires two teammates to compete together, and they found ways to stay in contact virtually to communicate during the events. According to Daniel Calleri, Science Olympiad coach, the teammates worked together through any digital platform they chose.

It is unknown by Dr. Calleri how these invitationals will impact future competitions, but he hopes that by regionals in March, Science Olympiad will have sorted out any challenges on the remote platform.

Dr. Calleri stated that the preparation for the two invitationals was online, but the team was able to hold in-person meetings before the Cypress Falls invitational, until additional pandemic restrictions ended in-person meetings on campus.

“We had a lot of parent support for those visits to school for the first invitational,” Dr. Calleri said, adding that the Parents’ Association contributed funds to cover the necessary cleaning on campus.

All other preparation was conducted online, where the team held meetings on Tuesdays during lunch and Thursday mornings. 

“It’s been a lot more difficult to stay in communication with the team,” Adi said. “We had a certain meeting once a week, but we meet twice a week now because we just can’t cover everything in one meeting. It takes way too much time in this format.”