Both half awake and half asleep, members of the Science Olympiad team loaded on a bus at 6:30 a.m. Saturday, Jan. 12, and headed for the Brookwood Invitational in Snellville.
After arriving at Brookwood High School, the team congregated in the cafeteria along with all the other teams and prepared for the first events of the day, which began at 9 a.m. Between events, which were scheduled every 50 minutes, team members munched on snacks, studied for later events, and a few even did homework until the last event at 1 p.m.
Afterward, the teams gathered for a pizza lunch and then headed to the gym for the 2:30 p.m. awards ceremony.
Brookwood took first place followed by the Gwinnett School of Mathematics, Science, and Technology. The Panthers did not place in the overall standings but placed in two events, with those participants receiving medals. In Chemistry Lab, which was run by SMHS Science Olympiad sponsor Dr. Stephen Clark, the Mill took third place. They also finished fifth in the Write-It-Do-It event.
“It was exciting because we were the only two groups to place on the team,” senior Taylor Avery said, “but hopefully we’ll get first next time.”
Starr’s Mill took sixth place in Gravity Vehicle but landed just out of the medals because only the top five teams were recognized.
Now that the invitational is over, Clark said his team members will begin making their preparations for the regional competition next month.
Senior Chris Pham said he plans to “make better cheat sheets” and build a small plane for Elastic Launch Glider.
Senior Luke Runyan said he wants to “study more for the academic events and work on improving the building events.” Clark said he expects to his team to finish within the top five and get an invitation to the state competition later this year.
“I plan to tell everybody to get busy,” Clark said. “We’ve got some work to do.”