La Jolla High School’s Science Olympiad team is part of a nationwide organization that hosts a science based competition for Middle and High School students where students participate in a range of STEM and research based events over a day. This past Saturday at the University of San Diego, La Jolla High School and 60 schools from San Diego competed in the San Diego Regional Tournament. LJHS placed 9th overall this year.
President of the team Elijah Jones is building it back up to its former years. Jones, who helps Science Olympiad runs smoothly says, “As president, I schedule and run meetings, handle signups, create rosters, and coordinate with the regional director.” Inji Hamdown and Huxley Smith, who have been competing for years, got a bronze medal in Entomology and a silver in Fossils. Hamdoun attributes their success to, “My partner Huxley, who was definitely the biggest factor, because he basically knows everything about these topics.” She says that, “being interested in the natural world and just a little bit competitive was a great combination.” Smith even studies the topics, “in my free time outside of competitions anyways,” so to compete it was an easy transfer of knowledge. This year, LJHS competitors Kyle Palmer and his brother, Kevin Palmer also won gold in Electric Vehicle, an event in which competitors must build and test a vehicle that runs only on electrical energy.