CFNN Reporter Gabriele Autry

Science Olympiad is a national organization that focuses on improving various fields of science. It was founded in 1984 by Dr. Gerald J. Putz, this year will mark the 40th anniversary since the establishment.

Science Olympiad consists of 23 events a year where students compete against each other. Many competitions cover technology, anatomy, engineering, chemistry, physics, and more! These events further educate the students’ knowledge on Science, Technology, Engineering, and Mathematics (STEM) and help them with teamwork and leadership roles.

Cape Fear High School’s Science Olympiad team has had an outstanding year so far with their new coach, Kelly Osornio.

The last competition took place on February 12, 2024. 28 members attended and they were split into a Varsity and JV team. Our Science Olympiad competed in 18 events, Varsity computed against 16 teams and JV completed against 7 teams.

“Our Varsity team placed 3rd in the overall competition and JV came in first overall. Varsity won 11 medals out of 18 meddled events and JV won 8 medals,” said Osornio.

Alexis Martin and Alexis Owen placed first in the overall tournament and Alyssa Osornio and Sierra Noel only had two days to prepare for the competition and they still placed 2nd

“Many people don’t understand how much dedication and time Science Olympiad requires. Many of my members are athletes and involved in clubs so our team meets every two weeks to refresh what they have learned and practiced at home to be prepared for the competitions,” said Coach Osornio. “We won our bid yesterday for state championships, the top four teams in Cumberland County go to states to compete against about 45 teams on April 12-13 at NC State University.”

Martin and Owen were on hand to discuss their first place finish in the last tournament.

“Many people don’t understand how fun and informative the Science Olympiad is. Not only does it look good on college applications and resumes, but it deepens your understanding of STEM,” said Owen. “Along with informational competitions, there are also building/engineering competitions. A lot of trial and error goes into these competitions with different prototypes and codings.”

“One of my favorite events we do is forensics because we compete in make believe mystery scenarios; it’s so much fun. We’ve also seen people building a robotic car out of lego panels,” said Martin.

Congratulations to the Science Olympiad team. Amazing work; Cape Fear looks forward to what you will do at States!

For more information about the Science Olympiad, check out the link down below.
https://www.soinc.org/