The CCHS Science team congregates at Concord Carlisle High School to board the bus. From left to right: Evelyn Mudge, Maggie Li, Jakab Renyi, Noah Arthur, Max Klimashov, Coach Moss, Evan Wang, Chengzhe (Kevin) Jiang, Ahrinn Desai, Aashir Rana. Image courtesy of Maggie Li.
The CCHS Science Olympiad Team competed at the state tournament on March 2nd, securing 4th, 6th, and 8th among 64 teams. Nine students, accompanied by Coach Sharon Moss, traveled to Wentworth Institute of Technology in Boston for the competition.
Preparing for 14 events spanning the areas of biology, chemistry, physics, engineering, and Earth science, the team stayed late after school in room 431 every Wednesday and Thursday under the coaching of Mr. Pennucci and Mr. Olsen. Breaking designs and studying thick textbooks, the nine students worked tirelessly the entire year in anticipation of the prestigious state tournament. From its founding in November 2023 by sophomores Noah Arthur and Evan Wang, the science team finally made it to the competition, a young team rising to contend with seasoned schools.
When hoping to start a competitive club in science at CCHS, Arthur and Wang looked to Science Olympiad: a nationwide competition involving specific events spanning multiple STEM fields. Arthur describes the diversity of the events as “an experience I think it would be hard to find elsewhere.” Freshman Maggie Li describes Science Olympiad as “not just about the science we learn in school” but that “it expands on it.” She adds that anyone “can find something that suits your interests at [Science Olympiad].”
Renyi, Rana, and Mr. Pennucci in 431. Image courtesy of Aashir Rana.
Among the myriad events in which the team competed is “Anatomy & Physiology,” where sophomores Aashir Rana and Evelyn Mudgedelved into the intricacies of the human body. placing 17th in the state. Having worked hard in preparation for “Astronomy” and eventually placing 18th in the state, Arthur defines the category as a combination of “astrological phenomena with astrophysics” that includes “interesting problem solving and memorization.”
The “Tower” event involves building and testing balsa wood towers to hold maximum load. Arthur and Wang managed to have their tower hold more than a thousand times its weight, placing 8th. Also in the engineering marvels is “Robot Tour,” in which sophomore Jakab Renyi and freshman Maxim Klimashov placed 15th after working late into the night coding the robot. Renyi succinctly summarizes the process where “some [designs] worked, [but] some worked better.” Also are the cerebral challenges of “Codebusters,” where Li tested her cryptanalysis skills and tackled “all sorts of problems where [she] decipher[ed] secret texts to get their codes…having [to] use formulas or letter frequencies to get the message.” By the end of the tournament, Li had won two top-ten finishes for Concord-Carlisle in the epidemiology event “Disease Detectives” and “Dynamic Planet,” a fusion of physics and Earth science, earning 6th and 4th place.
Coach Moss and Jiang help with preparing a tower for a test before school. Image courtesy of Evan Wang.
Kevin Jiang, 26’, and Wang placed 24th in the microbiology event “Microbe Mission,” which focused on topics from prions, phage λ cro repressor system, and operons. Ahrinn Desai, 26’, competed with Rana where they worked with lasers to direct the beam to a target point by bouncing the light from mirror to mirror in “Optics,” placing 36th.
When asked about the most memorable time of the season, Arthur fondly reminisces about staying after school late into the day building the competition tower. He also adds that “motivated, smart, and funny people [are] the best thing I could have seen in the club.” When asked why she joined Science Olympiad, Li remarks that it was because she wanted to “test [her] science knowledge.” Renyi adds that he wanted to “feed [his] love for learning more.”
Team members gather for a picture at WIT. Image Courtesy of Noah Arthur.
The team has also partnered with the CCHS Robotics Club and senior captain William Wood with engineering projects. Gaining engineering advice and with the help of 3D printing expertise, the team made designs much more efficiently in the “Tower” event. Wood remarks that “it has been very refreshing to see the motivation within the Science Olympiad club” and that “every day I walk past [their room] and [I] see them hard at work.” Wood concludes that “it has been very refreshing to see the motivation within the Science Olympiad club.” CCHS Science Olympiad hopes to continue working with CCHS Robotics on future engineering endeavors.
As the season comes to a close and the team stores away all their boxes of balsa wood and textbooks, they look ahead to the next year. The future plans include expanding the team and plans to attend national invitationals at prestigious universities. Notably, the CCHS Science Olympiad has recently joined the Western Suburban Science League meaning far more competition to look forward to. The journey onward is not merely one of competition, but one of personal growth as students collaborate in the relentless pursuit of scientific excellence.
