Brighton High School’s Science Olympiad team was successful at the regional tournament finishing first in their division which is in the region five division. During States, held May 2nd, the team got 12th place overall. The team is led by all senior captains this year: Brianna Meyer, Alec Brennan, Ethan Curtis and David Kinchen.
Labs, tests, and building vents make-up the challenges given to a Science Olympiad team. The divisions are split up based on the location of the school in Michigan. In order to qualify for the state tournament the team had to finish in the top three spots.
States took place in Lansing. The team put a lot of work into this season hoping to be successful as past seasons have been for Brighton High. The team is coached by Johanna Yuhas who is talking of retirement from coaching the Science Olympiad team with her son being a senior.
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“I have always enjoyed Science Olympiad, and senior year has been a blast. We have a really strong team filled with people who have been on it for many years,“ Meyers said.
The team has been working extra hard this year because of the shortage of staff they have compared to past years. Preparations have been a little different this year compared to the last couple years.
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“We practice for a few hours every week on some of the building events such as ‘Scrambler’,” Meyers said.
Other events that students partake in at the state tournament are Experimental Design, Fossils and Green Generation. Because of the staff shortage the olympiads have taken it into their own hands to prepare themselves for reaching their goal of States. These preparations include participating in invitational tournaments, getting experience in the speed of answering questions which is essential to being successful in the state final tournament. Other preparations include studying in their free time, looking over information and learning different techniques.
The team is excited to continue their success next year with at least fifteen students returning.