On Saturday, February eighth, the Science Olympiad team traveled all the way out to Southeast Missouri State University (SEMO) to compete in the region eight competition. This year’s Science Olympiad team consists of Will Arras, Alyssa Pierson, Anna Robbins, Hadley Hicks, Carter Corcino, Lidia Myers, Tyler Sherril, Daniel Bathe, Peyton England, Libby Mooney, Lizzy Houart, Clayton Martin, Eduardo Lopez, Madison Curry, and Hunter Bellew. The team is so dedicated that they took their Saturday off to get up early and travel an hour away to compete. They work endlessly hard and have meetings to prepare them for their competitions.  Each and every student on the team does their fair share of work, all competing in some type of challenge. They compose teams and choose events and categories to participate in. The team placed in twenty-three different categories going against different schools, some of which had many more students than Fredericktown. Some of these categories include code busters, water quality, and circuit lab.

Overall, the Science Olympiad team placed second place. They individually placed first in a competition a total of fourteen times! The categories the team placed first in are astronomy, boomilever, chemistry lab, disease detectives, experimental design, and protein modeling. They also placed second nine times, third place five times, and fourth place three times. They were awarded a shiny second place trophy, a plaque, and many medals.

One of the student team members, Eduardo Lopez, was happy to compete. He competed in director building and wright stuff, holding the spot for second place in both categories. Eduardo decided to get involved in Science Olympiad because he thought it would be fun. Eduardo said that the hardest thing he has taken part in so far was the test he took for detective builder, however, he enjoys being in science club and would do it again next year. 

Another student, Tyler Sherrill, took part in Science Olympiad. He fought hard to win first place in not only one, but two different categories; disease detectives and protein modeling. He was very excited to have accomplished this. He enjoys participating and would definitely do this again next year. His favorite part was getting away with his team for an entire day.