Breaking in the 2015-16 Science Olympiad season with a comparatively substandard tertiary placement at December’s Islip Invitational competition, their performance should pose portent to a series of hitherto unforeseen events – some to the team’s avail, others; less so.

Perhaps the foremost of these occasions holds insofar—at least as the subsequent MIT Invitational tournament that was arranged for January is concerned. So styled the venue of most prospective import short of a state or national competition, and treated accordingly in preparation, it was to be the coalescence of the likes of the most sound teams the Northeast over, raring to demonstrate their scientific prowess under the veritable mental duress that just such a climate should well afford. However, something of a malefactor had beset Ward Melville’s coterie of delegates therein: the bus’ itinerary would be subject to the caprices of a wayward winter squall. Disheartened, the trip was cancelled. “I think that MIT’s cancellation probably did affect our performance on tests afterward a bit. It’s always better to have more practice,” attested team member and builder Nikita Podobedov, “and now the bar is raised much higher for the upcoming state competition by our victory at Brentwood Regionals.”

Nikita refers to a major endeavor thus undertaken (and thus surmounted) later in the month—and the definitive preliminary round to precipitate and regulate teams contending for the ranks of state tournament-grade teams. Ward Melville made thorough work of putting to rout the efforts of its fellow institutions to steal first place—a tier that it entertained in four different events, let alone the consummate regional tournament. If ever there were a sentiment proven most characteristic of a Science Olympiad student, though, it may be his or her sedulity. Never content to squander aptly found opportunity, an in-house MIT simulation of sorts was recently conducted, seeing students exempt from class to practice for the forthcoming tribulations. Junior Craig Deng, librarian-in-chief of the club, elaborates so: “The exams are very high quality, given that they were written by alumni now at MIT, so of course they were fantastic to have for practice. Better than those of an invitational tournament, in terms of difficulty, rigor, and length.”

Team bureaucrats, coaches, and students alike have long been hard at work, and with alacrity, Ward Melville bids them the best of tidings in the State tournament in Syracuse this March. Here’s to the further success of the Ward Melville Science Olympiad.