Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is one of the preeminent science competitions for high school students. The format resembles a track meet, but instead of athletic events, teams from each school compete in science events. Each team of 15 students competes in 23 events, with 2 students from the team competing in each event (students each compete in several events). Events include topics like chemistry lab, remote sensing, and glider engineering.

Official competitions are hosted by the national science olympiad organization, but invitational tournaments can be held by any university hoping to help their local teams gain some practice. The first-ever Harvard University Science Olympiad Invitational tournament was held on January 28, 2018. Nearly 500 students representing 30 high school teams participated in the one-day event.

Along with three friends, I was a co-founder of the event as well as logistics director. I was involved in booking spaces for the event, coordinating aspects of setup, and general logistics for the day of the event. I managed a small team and mentored the members that would go on to lead the event in future years.

Organizing this tournament was a wonderful way to give back to the Science Olympiad community and provide a valuable resource to local high schools. I was a participant in Science Olympiad competitions in high school and it played an important role in my early development as an engineer.