On Feb. 15, the Dartmouth Undergraduate Science Olympiad, which was founded last fall, hosted more than 200 New England high school students in the Life Sciences Center for its first Science Olympiad. During the student-run science competition, contestants each participated in two to four events out of 24 total events, including written tests, lab experiments and engineering activities, according to chapter president Sarah Parigela ’27.
Across the country, collegiate Science Olympiad chapters host local high school teams for competitions, according to the Science Olympiad website. The competitions consist of tests across various fields of science, including biology, chemistry, earth science, engineering and physics.
“A test could be about the immune system and integumentary system, while another event involves setting up, running and analyzing an acid base titration,” Parigela said. “The engineering activities, known as ‘build events,’ can include flying hand-made helicopters or testing the structural integrity of a wooden tower.”
Parigela added that club members Nico Bezzerides ’27 and Ryan Zheng ’28 also wrote a linguistics test for the event — a “trial event” that is not typically included in Science Olympiad tournaments.
Parigela said she founded the Science Olympiad chapter at Dartmouth to inspire students in the Upper Valley to pursue science. She said the organization had a “huge impact” on her when she participated in high school, but upon starting college, she discovered that Dartmouth was the only Ivy League university to not host a competition annually.
“During my freshman spring, I realized I hadn’t heard anything about a Science Olympiad tournament at Dartmouth, while the other Ivies had already wrapped up their competitions for the season,” Parigela said.
To host the event, Dartmouth students volunteered for different roles, including test proctors, event supervisors and design leads. Build event proctor Sam Li ’27, who kept track of scores, noted that there was a different level of preparedness across the teams.
“Some teams … do extremely well, but also some are underprepared,” Li said. “Some students weren’t even [registered for] this event until the last second — some dude was complaining that he wanted to do entomology instead of a robot tour.”
Design lead, proctor and guide Hannah McGee ’27 said she enjoyed giving coaches and students directions and answering their questions.
“I stand in the LSC and direct coaches and students where to go or answer any questions they might have,” McGee said. “Getting to meet the students and coaches is fun — they are all very sweet.”
Lebanon High School sophomore Ian Danen-Lucier and Lebanon High School senior Doyen Kodiweera competed as a team during their events. While both participants noted that the competitions were not “super easy,” Danen-Luicer said the experience was still “very fun.”
“I think the biggest part for me [of competing at Dartmouth] is that we live so close, only a 15-minute bus ride away,” Kodiweera said. “It’s nice to be close to home.”
Danen-Lucier added that he will “for sure” participate if the tournament is held on campus next year because Dartmouth is “right in [his] backyard.”
Parigela said she attributes the success of the event to Lebanon High School science teacher John Tietjen. According to Parigela, Tietjen hosted similar invitational tournaments on Dartmouth’s campus in 2017 and 2018 but was unable to continue them during the pandemic. Tietjen said he provided scoring guidelines and “archives” of the tournament’s “previous iterations” to Parigela.
Tietjen said the competition at Dartmouth was “fantastic” because, in prior years, his teams had to “travel to Boston or Providence” for an invitational, which was “a long drive.”
“We so appreciate having a tournament running at Dartmouth because it allows this community in northern New England to build our capacity to have more of these STEM events take place,” Tietjen said. “[Students] get to see the enthusiasm and the collaborative spirit that the STEM community has.”
Tietjen added that Science Olympiad competitions allow students to network with high school students from other states, including New York and Vermont. Tournaments are also a chance for coaches to talk to each other about teaching science, Tietjen said.
Parigela added that the Dartmouth Undergraduate Science Olympiad plans to host another tournament next year.
Tietjen said there is “no question” that his teams will participate again next year in a Science Olympiad competition at Dartmouth.
“We would be so enthusiastic to come back and continue to spread the word,” Tietjen said. “I think not only would Lebanon [High School] come back but more northern New England teams will be able to come to the tournament if it continues to run.”
