Science Olympiad Regionals are quickly approaching for Grayslake Central’s Science Olympiad team. Grayslake Central will be competing against other high schools at the College of Lake County on March 4, 2023. Science Olympiad sponsors Hayden Beattie and Aiden Williams as well as two of the three team captains, Cabot Postel and Aspen Braun, have expressed confidence in doing well on the day of regionals. Braun said, “I trust that we will do well, as we have done well at our three invitationals this season. Everyone is dedicated and studies hard during practice.” Postel shared the same sentiment; “As long as I keep studying like I have and our team keeps preparing, I think we will be ready.”

Postel has participated in Science Olympiad since fifth grade and participated all four years in high school, and became a captain last spring through a vote. When Postel joined, he “really wanted to do Bottle Rockets, which is building a bottle rocket, shooting it off, and seeing how high it goes. Then there are other events there too that I ended up enjoying.” To prepare for his events, Postel said “it depends a lot on the event. A lot for me is normally studying, watching videos, and reading things online. A lot of the time doing practice tests helps, going through and doing practice questions.” Postel is participating in Disease Detectives, “which is public health,” Experimental Design “which is where they give you a bunch of random materials and you have to design an experiment based on that, and finally Green Generation “which is just AP environmental science and anatomy and physiology.”

Braun has participated in Science Olympiad since sophomore year and became a captain the same way as Postel. Braun joined, “to explore science outside of generic high school classes. I’ve become more knowledgeable about topics that fascinate me and found a close-knit group of like-minded people.” Braun’s events are Dynamic Planet, Forestry, and Trajectory. To prepare for their events, Braun said “I prepare using general study tactics based on the topics I’m given through the event rules. Reading the rules is crucial to understanding the scope of the events.” 

As for the coaches, Beattie describes his role as, “mostly organization and paperwork. I let the students work independently to study and build. Our captains are fantastic and do a great deal of tutoring, teaching, and helping teammates.” Williams agreed, saying “The team is very self-sufficient and the team captains are looked at as leaders. Coach Beattie and I are there to help gather materials and facilitate practice/events.” 

“I hope to see us do well,” Beattie says, “Regardless of the results at regionals, I am proud of the work the students have put in all year long.”