By Gillian Rees – News Editor

The Jonathan Law Science Club recently competed in the Harvard-Brown Invitational Science Olympiad. Normally, they would have traveled to Boston to compete but they have competed virtually from home this year due to COVID-19. The competition would usually consist of a mixture of tests and hands-on building activities, but this year since it was virtual, they did the tests only. Advocate editor Gillian Rees interviews Science Club President Katherine Mao about the Science Club and the Science Olympiad. 

Gillian Rees: How often does the Science Club meet?

Katherine Mao: Science Club meets once a week on Mondays. This year our meetings are at 2:00 p.m. through Google Meet.

GR: How much preparation does the Science Olympiad take and how do you prepare for it?

KM: Preparing for the Olympiads is mostly done independently and outside of our normal meeting times. Depending on what events you have, there’s different ways to study for them, but the most important thing I think is to do a lot of practice tests so that you know what questions have been like in the past. It’s also really important to communicate with your partners as to how you guys want to approach the test, whether you want to split up the content, or if you want to strategize for the day of the Olympiad.

GR: As the president, what extra responsibilities do you take on?

KM: As president, my main task is to facilitate the weekly meetings and make sure everyone can have the best experience possible. I also work with the other officers to assign events for everyone, organize the different teams, and create schedules for each Olympiad. There’s also scheduling conflicts that come up and required forms that have to be filled out, so the officers and I work together to solve any issues and make sure everything runs smoothly. 

GR: How different was the Harvard-Brown Olympiad this year compared to other years?

KM: With Harvard-Brown and all of our competitions being online this year, it’s definitely a big change from other years. Instead of competing at college campuses, we access our tests through a website called Scilympiad, and we have to use either FaceTime, Google Meet, or Discord to coordinate with our partners. As with anything that’s online, some of us encountered tech issues, but the Olympiad organizers were pretty understanding about that. The awards ceremony was also online, so it wasn’t the same without the screaming and cheering during a normal awards ceremony, but I think it was still a cool experience for everyone. 

GR: What would you say to encourage anyone who might be interested in joining the science club next year? 

KM: I would just say to be open to trying new things because you’ll never know how great something is until you step out of your comfort zone. As an underclassman I was hesitant to join Science Club because I thought it would be really competitive and cutthroat, but now I’m so glad I did because it’s been a big part of my high school experience. Science Club is about learning new material that you otherwise wouldn’t have been exposed to in school, but it’s also about getting to meet new people, make new friends, and have fun.