By Emily Foster

Nineteen middle school and high school students from the Quileute Tribal School competed at the Science Olympiad. This was the first science competition that QTS has ever attended, which was held at Clark College in Vancouver on March 4.

With 24 science events to choose from, such as Astronomy, Experimental Design, Mission Possible and Invasive Species, many of the students participated in more than one competition.

Overall, the middle school team placed 12th out of 19 teams while the high school team came in 16th out of 19.

QTS science teacher and team coach, Alice Ryan, explained, “We were a first-year team. It is basically unheard of for a new team to be competitive and place. There’s a learning curve to this. You don’t usually go in and are super successful right away because it takes time.”

Lance Obi-Williams, seventh grade, and Malakai Dailey, eighth grade, received a fourth-place medal in Optics. Optics involves positioning mirrors in a box to reflect a laser around barriers. Teams have approximately three minutes to set up the mirrors before the laser is turned on,and the object is to get the laser to hit a target.

“There’s an X we had to hit. Ours was just a little bit above it,” described Obi-Williams. “Placing fourth made me feel good because it was our first time going to the Science Olympiad. I want to keep on trying every year until I reach first place.”

Three other students also had an excellent showing; eighth-grader Kevin Ryan was sixth in an engineering event called Towers while Aaliyah Dailey and Addy Black, both in seventh grade, were eighth in Meteorology.

For each student, the Science Olympiad was a learning experience. For example, Kevin Ryan realized he should have made his tower lighter and added more support at the base, while sophomore Stephanie Ward now knows next year she’ll bring better notes for the Rocks and Minerals event.

Coach Ryan said, “They did far better than I would expect any first-year team to do. They really brought it to the competition and I can’t wait to see what they can do next year.”