by Amy Morrill
Members of the Women of Science teams attended an annual competition in Bedford Saturday, Dec. 13 after preparing for three months. One team, which consisted of juniors Sophie Elgart, Amy Huang, and Maria Trias, earned 8th place out of 45 teams, while the other, which consisted of juniors Sophie Al-Shwauva, Sarah Bickford, and Yohanna Georgis, placed 27th.
The teams have been meeting X-blocks to study different types of science, such as biology, physics, and chemistry, according to Trias.
“The competition is pretty random,” said Trias. “We’ve been trying to cover all of our bases. You grab from every corner of science to collect all of this knowledge and hopefully be able to use it.”
The competition features a variety of challenging events. Elgart, Huang, and Trias succeeded in the catapult event, using a homemade catapult to hit targets. After tying another team for accuracy, they won the next round by nailing the target on their second shot.
Later, students had lunch with a female scientist to serve as inspiration.
“The woman I chatted with majored in biology but actually does sales for scientific equipment, which serves to prove that science can take you anywhere,” said Bickford.
Bickford also said that the scientist’s advice was valuable to students thinking about their futures.
Bickford added that the competition “shows interest in young girls’ success and futures” and that this will “hopefully encourage them to pursue any of their dreams knowing that there is a community to support them.”