At Silver Creek High School, clubs and sports like the marching band, baseball, and theatre program are active at different times of year, and have much effort put into them. However, the Science Olympiad club is going to be dedicated to one of the largest STEM-based programs in the country and may put some of the most effort into it with practices several times per week.

However, some may ask what exactly the Science Olympiad is. According to Ashlee Runyon, the Science Olympiad is a competition that focuses on fields of science such as genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, mechanical engineering, and technology. “Science Olympiad gives students the opportunity to compete in STEM-related fields who want to be part of a team,” said Runyon.

“Our biggest goal this year is to get a team, or maybe two, going and have some fun. This is our first year competing, so we are ‘just getting our feet wet,’ so to speak,” Runyon continued.

It is also important to understand why Science Olympiad is so important to students at Silver Creek. One way many students find importance is in the club’s competition.

“A lot of stuff at Silver Creek is sports or arts-focused, Science Olympiad is one of those rare programs that prioritizes academics,” said Jay Schwartz, a 10th grader at Silver Creek. “On top of that, I think that the competitive element is really unique—the idea of testing your knowledge in a discipline against other peoples is super unique, especially here, where we’re a little more isolated from other schools, cities, and programs.”

Cole Sheppard, a 12th grader at Silver Creek who has participated in Science Olympiad previously, held a similar stance to Schwartz, stating “Science Olympiad is important because it gives an extracurricular chance for students to exercise their curiosity.”

Currently, according to Runyon, members signed up for the Science Olympiad consist of mostly freshmen and sophomores, which will “give us the experience we need in the upcoming years.” She also says that the main goal is to gain experience for the future, though making it to state would be nice.

With its variety of activities, the Science Olympiad will be a worthy challenge for the students at Silver Creek and offer an extracurricular chance for STEM-focused students to build experience in the field they plan to enter. In the following years, it is inevitable that Silver Creek will gain enough experience to possibly move on further in competitions, but for now, let’s build up to that. Science Olympiad meets in E205 after school on Tuesdays.