Science Olympiad is getting a head start on next season’s competitions. After two weeks at school, their first meeting took place on Sept.13, and the tryout exams were on Sept.19-20. They are starting early in hopes of bringing home a state competition trophy this year.

Science Olympiad is a club that competes with other schools in Virginia on various topics. Students take an exam to get into the club in order to display their knowledge.

Students get to choose two of the three topics, which are building events, study events (which require a test) and laboratory events. The team learns the requirements for the competition they are going to be working on, then they practice. They work together to master the material or build the device.

“The students prepare by doing either studying or testing events,” said AP Physics teacher Claire Anton, McLean’s Science Olympiad club sponsor. “They study for those topics that are going to be evaluated. If it is a laboratory event, they practice at laboratories, or [do] labs that they suspect will be on it. And if it is a building event, they build a device and they test it, and they usually modify it to make [sure is] in good shape.”

There are three levels of competition that the Science Olympiad team attends. The first one is called invitationals, which is more like a practice. The team studies, they prepare, they do their events, and they usually leave with a lot of medals.

They haven’t chosen the competition for this year yet. The first competition is probably in November or December. The location depends on which one they decide they want to go to.

“Our kids are pretty good,” Anton said. “When the invitationals are over, we fix things we didn’t do well on, we do a little more studying, a little more building, and then we go to the regional competition.”

Regional competitions are the second level. There are usually two regional competitions in Northern Virginia, but the team will only pick one of them to attend. They compete against Langley, TJ, Fairfax and all other high schools in the county, plus some private schools.

“We have taken first or second in regionals every year since I’ve been [at] McLean, and we’ve gone to states three times,” Anton said. “Last year we placed sixth or seventh, and everybody got an award, which is very good. Some people got multiple awards. We did very well.”

Science Olympiad meets on Tuesday and Thursday after school, and every member is required to attend one meeting per week. Anton is hoping this year, when go to the states level, they will bring home a trophy.

“I think that the personal award for the kids are what I think it’s the most important, because they show how hard they worked,” Anton said. “If their teams have been balanced, I like it when they take second or third place (or first place) [at the state level]. This is fun.”