News & Events
Special & Annual Events
Martin Luther King, Jr. Symposium
Mind-Meld Between Roommates Leads to Science Olympiad Success
Arianna Otoo ’21 and Leslie Reyes García ’21 have been roommates since they arrived at EHS four years ago. Best friends, they know each other incredibly well — a familiarity put to the test this year in a science competition they both love.
Despite the pandemic, the School continued its Science Olympiad program this winter, with students on campus and those attending remotely working with Dr. Kim Olsen and Dr. Kacey Meaker to prepare for the annual competitions. Some of the 23 events are knowledge based and ask participants to take a test or analyze data. In others, students perform experiments or build a device — a self-propelled car, for instance.
Science Olympiad was born in 1974, but this year, the pandemic forced it to move online for the first time, eliminating the thrill of gathering to square off against scores of other schools. Still, EHS students still enjoyed the chance to come together during the afternoon options period and prepare for virtual competitions. Students who were enrolled in distance joined from a distance as far as 14 time zones away.
For Arianna and Leslie, the shift to online threw a twist into one of their favorite events, Write-It Build-It. Students compete in pairs, and it works like this: One student writes a description of a wacky structure built out of random objects (“a pile of junk” like paper clips, cups, and rubber bands, Dr. Olsen says), and the other tries to build the structure using the written description and those random objects. “It’s an exercise in spatial communication and teaching how to use coordinate systems” — skills that are important for, say, an engineer trying to interpret and bring to life a designer’s concept, she says.
Adrianna and Leslie took quickly to Write-It Build-It last year. “We have known each other for a really long time,” Arianna says. “And we have a really good idea of how each other thinks, so we usually work pretty well together.” Preparing for the event, they even came up with a short-hand code for Leslie’s description.
This year, however, Write-It Build-It was moved online, with the wacky structure turned into a digital graphic. Leslie’s task was to describe a picture on a screen, and Arianna was then to use a computer-assisted design program, or CAD, to try construct it. The event’s new title: Write-It CAD-It.
Leslie says her biggest challenge was describing a one-dimensional object. “The main issue was orientation and knowing how to express how things looked from above from the sides,” she says. Arianna, meanwhile, had to learn different CAD programs for the two tournaments they entered.
At a practice session, Dr. Meaker created a digital design with pieces of furniture stacked on top of each other — a structure that baffled Leslie and Arianna. “That’s when we knew we were in trouble,” Leslie says.
But they surprised themselves. Though Arianna, who also competes in rock climbing, joined Science Olympiad practices late — and had to learn the CAD program in just three days — the two did their mind-meld and claimed the EHS team’s highest finish at the Fairfax Invitational, which featured 68 schools, many of which have enrollments that top 3,000 and 4,000 students. Altogether 13 EHS Olympians competed at the two tournaments this season:
| Anatomy & Physiology Jachin Ejim Christopher Kim | Astronomy Eyimofe Uwatse |
| Chemistry Lab Jake Lee Sung Joo Chun | Circuit Lab Jake Lee Arianna Otoo |
| Code Busters Manu Kadiyala Leslie Reyes García | Designer Genes Jacin Ejim |
| Detector Design Jake Lee | Disease Detectives Ky Pham Zara Vetter |
| Dynamic Planet Zara Vetter | Forensics Eyimofe Uwatse |
| Fossils Ky Pham Shaan Vyas | Helicopter Leslie Reyes García Vicky Zhou |
| Machines Jachin Ejim Jaden Lee Jake Lee | Ornithology Arianna Otoo Shaan Vyas |
Protein Modeling Arianna Otoo Leslie Reyes García | Sounds of Music Christopher Kim |
Water Quality Sung Joo Chun Jake Lee | Write-It Cad-It Arianna Otoo Leslie Reyes García |
Other Recent News
List of 4 news stories.
-
Celebrating Our Winter Athletes
Read More -
Maddie Melton Shares Love of Exploration with Students
Read More -
On Leadership, Courage, and Community Building
2023-24 MRC Days Focus on Portrait QualitiesRead More -
Episcopal Librarian Dives into Artificial Intelligence
Read More
