Academic competitions provide creative and challenging outlets

Many students are unaware of the competitions and contests they can participate in, or are intimidated by them. But there is no need to worry; there is a myriad of competitions available that allow students of all talents to sharpen their skills and have fun competing with or against their classmates.

Opportunities for the science-deprived

For all the dedicated students out there who just can’t get enough of those chemical equations or thermodynamics problems, there is no need to fret. There are many opportunities to participate in science related competitions.

Science Bowl, a Jeopardy-style trivia competition, puts a fun game-show twist to science problems. For students looking for a more diverse science competition, Science Bowl is a great opportunity. This competition covers a wide range of topics, including physics and even math problems.

“[The competition] is sponsored by the Department of Energy and consists of teams of 4-5 students competing against each other,” chemistry teacher Kathy Nakamatsu said.

Because spaces are limited, students need to tryout in order to compete. Tryouts will have occurred in mid-September for the selection of the team members.

JETS, short for Junior Engineering and Technological Society, is also a competition focused on a broader set of knowledge. This competition occurs at the state and national level.

Branching out into other sciences, Chemistry Olympiad is a great choice for students. The process to participate begins in early spring.

“In March or April, interested Chemistry students [who are enrolled in Chemistry Regular, Honors, or AP] take a multiple choice exam with me,” Nakamatsu said.

The two people with the highest scorers compete in a regional exam. The winner of the regional exam attends a Chemistry Study Camp in the summer, and competes at a national level, Nakamatsu said.

Lastly, the Science Fair is a good option for students who wish to conduct independent research projects.

“If you get past the local science fair,” senior Alissa Zhang said, “then you can go to the Intel science and engineering fair [at a national level] or you can go to the California state science fair.”
Zhang did her science fair project on microbial fuel cells last year as part of a summer research program and won multiple prizes.

Although many students, both at this school and at others, take these competitions very seriously, those interested in science should not be afraid to give the competitions a try.

“People shouldn’t be afraid to try, even if they don’t think they have enough experience,” Zhang said. “Sometimes you’ll be surprised at how well you do.”

Hungry for history

History Day provides an outlet for students to focus their interest in history and harness their creative spirits. Students should talk to their history teachers or Kevin Heyman for specific information about joining History Day. The process typically begins in September and October.

Senior Sanjana Chetia’s group made it all the way to the national competition last year with a documentary about Japanese internment.

“It was definitely fun, and it was definitely an experience I learned from,” teammate senior Christine Tseng said.

Since it provides an opportunity to delve into areas students may not regularly explore, History Day always proves to be aneye-opening experience.

History Day allowed Tseng to develop skills such as creating a documentary, something she was not familiar with.

In a good way, the large amount of research required to complete a project also forces students to learn about history, Tseng said.

“[We also learned] how to speak in front of the judges, making sure you impress them,” Tseng said.

It is important to have good time management, since History Day is time consuming.

“Don’t procrastinate because that’s the biggest handicap,” Chetia said.

But the most important thing about the process is remembering to enjoy it, according to Tseng.

“We went in thinking [we would] never make it past county,” Tseng said. “You would gain more if you saw winning as a side effect, and not as a main goal.”

To see more information on this year’s History Day, see the article by Cristina Curcelli and Nelson Wang on page 6 of this issue.

Mathletes exercise a different muscle

The average math problem in most math competitions are so convoluted that a normal math student would have a terrible headache just looking at it. But of course, math club members are among the most elite mathletes in the entire school.

“You must be awesome [in math], unless you have an intense passion in order to be a successful math contestant,” says math teacher PJ Yim, the adviser for the math club.

Math club members participate annually in a multitude of competitions, such as the nationally administered American Mathematics Competition (AMC) test.

“There’s AMC, which leads to the American Invitational Mathematics Examination (AIME), which leads to the United States of America Mathematical Olympiad (USAMO), and then to the International Mathematical Olympiad (IMO). In between USAMO and IMO there’s also MOSP, which is the Math Olympiad Summer Program,” says Yim. “Only about 60 students [nationally] qualify every year. One time we had four students [go to MOSP] in one year, which is ridiculous.”

Along with the yearly AMC contests, math club members participate in a variety of other local competitions, such as the Santa Clara University High School Mathematics Contest and the Santa Clara Valley Mathematics Association-sponsored Senior Olympiad and Field Day. These competitions are geared towards testing students’ mathematical problem solving ability and ingenuity, rather than testing aspects of school course math.

Yim said that math club represents a significant step into a student’s mathematical endeavors.

The wonderful world of speech and debate

A mob of students dressed impeccably in suits stream through the hallways of the school, chattering loudly. One person is talking loudly about their opponent’s inability to defend against his onslaught of questions and another is jabbering away about how the month’s topic is one-sided and utterly terrible. Welcome to the world of speech and debate.

In speech and debate, there are a plethora of different events to participate in, ranging from public forum debate to Lincoln-Douglass debate to extemporaneous speech. In all different disciplines, students are required to formulate and support the arguments with sufficient evidence based on pre-assigned topics.

“Being a member of speech and debate gives students the skill to speak in public with confidence in a highly engaging and educational way,” English teacher Erick Rector said, the head coach of the debate team.

In addition to writing persuasive speeches, debate members routinely attend tournaments and compete against numerous other schools.

The speech and debate team has league tournaments about five times a semester, with the invitational tours, Cal and Stanford, both in February, said Rector.

The positive effects of speech and debate are apparent.

“I have had quite enriching and enthralling experiences in debate,” sophomore Robert Eng said.
In debate, we have learned about Iran enriching uranium, WikiLeaks exposing top secret United States information, [American involvement in] Afghanistan fighting the Taliban, the abhorrent effects of cyber-bullying and more, said Eng.

Eng said the best part of his previous year of experience debating was competing against other students.

“The most worthwhile part of debating is meeting new friends before the round and talking with your opponents. It is so fun to then go into a round and tear each other apart and then come out of the round being all friendly again,” Eng said.