Science Olympiad is an American team competition where individuals compete in various events. Some of the topics include anatomy, biology, chemistry, physics, astrology, and engineering. Students prepare for the competition ahead of time by studying the event or building something that will be tested at the competition. Science Olympiad started in 1974 and has grown to a nation level with more than 7,000 schools competing throughout the 50 states.

Wydown Middle School’s Science Olympiad team started four years ago. At first, it was just one team with about 20 students, but since then, the Science Olympiad community has grown much larger. The kids show up every morning before school and every afternoon after to work. Sermos gets to school at seven and kids are already waiting. They stay after school until 4:20. The team has a diverse mix of sixth, seventh, and eighth graders.

This is Sandy Sermos’ second year as head coach of the Wydown Science Olympiad team. She was not officially involved during the first two years of the program. When Dr. Linda Gwyn, who started the club at Wydown, retired two years ago, Sermos took the club under her wing.

Barry Crook, new to Wydown this year from Kirkwood School District, joined the team this year as a co-advisor to Sermos. Crook, who has been involved in many Science Olympiad clubs in other schools, says that one of the reasons why Wydown Science Olympiad is special is that “the kids all have coaches from Wash U. (The Wash U coaches) are very much dedicated to this. They show up every single week. Some of them come two or three times. They’re just really excited about it and they want to be the best.”

Many of the Wash U coaches who are coaching at Wydown have also through the Science Olympiad program and have competed before in the same events that are being held today. Emily Wen, a Wash U student and one of the volunteer coaches for four years, said, “Science Olympiad impacted me in a great way. It was the reason why I wanted to do environmental science. I really want to give back to what the program has given me. Science Olympiad helped me improve my studying skills and helped me excel in science classes in school. I always come back because I love seeing the improvement from year to year the students have made.” Science Olympiad has made a great impact on our generation. It inspires kids and helps them become informed more about their world. The Science Olympiad program provides an outlet for students to learn about subjects that are not taught in most school curriculums. It allows them to explore various different worlds of science and see what interests them. Science Olympiad is not just an academic activity, it is a great way to meet new people with creative ideas and to enrich your insights of the world.