In January, 15 EHS students traveled to George Washington University to compete in the 2008 National Science Olympiad Invitational. They faced talented competition from high schools as far-flung as Massachusetts, Ohio, and even Arizona – and rose to the occasion admirably, placing in the top six medal categories in several events.

The Science Olympiad is a competition among “intathletes” – intellectual athletes – in 23 competitions. Teams have 15 students, which means each student must compete in more than one event.

Students compete through traditional exams on subjects such as chemistry, physics, and biology. But they also compete in more unusual events such as “The Sounds of Music,” in which students build an instrument and play music on it before judges – including an original composition; forensics, in which students are presented with a crime scene and must perform tests to reach conclusions about the crime; and competitions among student-built robots and airplanes.

In January, Austin Kim ’09 and Ik Soo Kwon ’09 won the gold medal in Fermi Questions; Peter Kim ’10 won a silver medal in Remote Sensing; Terry Chun ’09 and Kwon won silver medals in Chemistry Lab; Sam Song ’09 and Peter Kim ’10 took a fourth place medal in Robot Ramble; Alex Schuyler ’09 and Daniel Fernandez-Baca ’09 received fifth place medals in Rocks and Minerals; and Jason Kim ’08 and Michael Rizzoni ’08 received fifth place medals in Five Star Science.

Update: State Tournament Highlights

After a long break from their last invitational, the Science Olympiad team showed up to the state tournament ready to impress.

By the end of the day, the Episcopal team even had several Fairfax High School coaches cheering them on as they took victories from Langley High School, the eventual State Champions.

Silver Medalists: Alex Schuyler and Daniel Fernandez-Baca in Rocks and Minerals

Silver Medalists: Peter Kim and Michael Rizzoni in Remote Sensing

Bronze Medalists: Peter Kim and Sam Song in Robot Ramble

4th Place Medalists Michael Xu and David Hwang in Cell Biology

4th Place Medalists Michael Xu and Christine Joo in Forensics

4th Place Medalists Barbara Bai and New Srinorasret in Circuit Lab

5th Place Medalists Barbara Bai and Daniel Fernandez-Baca in Write It-Do It

EHS Medals: 7
Woodberry Forest Medals: 1