With the new school year in play, De Soto High School’s Science Olympiad team has started practicing after school in order to prepare for meets.  

According to junior Isabel Haake, Science Olympiad includes all elements of science. 

 “Science Olympiad is an organization where students compete with other schools in different science categories such as biology, chemistry, physics and engineering.” Haake said.

Junior member Brent Smith is looking forward to a great season.

“This season, I am looking forward to trying out new events, and getting better at the ones I did last year,” Haake said.

Smith also shows great compassion towards the club sponsor, Chemistry teacher Lauren Sixta.

“Our team sponsor, Mrs. Sixta, is an incredible sponsor as well as a mentor. She has an outgoing passion for science that makes being part of the team such a great experience,” Smith said.

Similar to Smith, Haake also appreciates all Sixta has done for the team so far.

“She checks up on us during the days we have meets to make sure that we’re in the right locations with the right people at the right time,” Haake said.

A goal the team has this season is to  change how things were done during previous years. 

“Members from last year want to change how the team was organized, and our main want from last year was to have more members,” Haake said. “Last year there were about 15 of us, which was very tricky because for the State team, there are only 15 members allowed to go. This caused members to not work as hard to reach their full potential.” 

Along with increasing group numbers, another goal is for them to achieve on a bigger level.

“Seeing other clubs such as Scholars Bowl succeed, I know that success was possible for Science Olympiad too, only if we could get a team that was wanting to put the work in needed now so future teams can succeed as well,” Smith said.

The Science Olympiad team is excited for a great season and are eager to make changes to increase the success the team will achieve.