Some students take part in the creative writing club to develop their written expression, pursue the robotics and programing club to pursue interests in automation, or join the speech and debate club to fine tune their argumentative and public speaking skills.
“We have clubs for engineering and math, but nothing that focuses on science in general. So, when we heard about the Science Olympiad, Amy and I jumped at the opportunity. We formed this club so people could choose a science and compete in it,” said co-president sophomore Joey Ravenna.
The Competitive Science Club, or CSC, is a STEM based competitive group that has been reformatted to fit common core standards.
“It has several types of events: knowledge based (mental and intellectual testing) and building based (building equipment and structures in order to beat other teams),” said co-president sophomore Amy You.
The Science Olympiad competition is a global non-profit establishment devoted to improving science education.
“We have a team of 15 max for competition, and two-people pairing within that will compete for each event. There are 23 events that we need to cover,” said You.
The Science Olympiad tournaments are rigorous competitions with a series of individual and team events.UC Irvine is planning to host the 2016 Southern California State Science Olympiad on March 5, 2016.
“The Science Olympiad Club is a place where a student can apply their talented skills in science in a competition involving other high schools. This is a great way to gain confidence,” said vice president Akanksha Shukla.
The team, which meets every Thursday in Mrs. Perkins’s room 64, discusses the future of the club and prepares for upcoming .
The leadership is comprised entirely of sophomores, including co-presidents Amy You and Joey Ravenna, vice president Akanksha Shukla, treasurer Grant Richardson, and secretary Shasta McKinsey.
“We created the competitive science club to give an opportunity to those that wanted to be involved in particular sciences, outside of the classroom. We formed this club so people could choose a science and compete in it. So many people have talent in science on our campus, but not necessarily in biology or chemistry, and we want to cater to those who enjoy the less generic sciences, maybe astrophysics or coding,” said Ravenna.