Interviewed by Ellie S. (11th G)
If you are a student in the area, please check this club out and maybe join them!
What is the official name of the club, and what is your primary mission?
Our name is Davidson County Homeschool; we are a middle school and high school team that competes in the Science Olympiad Competition at the regional level, sometimes moving on to state, every year. We also have a focus on teaching and learning about Science, biology, and the like.
How many members do you have, and what is the typical “vibe” of a meeting?
We have 8 middle and high schoolers currently, 3 high schoolers and 5 middle schoolers and the vibe is usually studying with partners at the library, like taking practice tests, going through binders, or talking about what to expect.
What specific branches of science do you focus on (e.g., Biology, Robotics, Environmental Science)?
Well, Science Olympiad is a competition encompassing 23 smaller competitions (called events) which all are about different things, spanning from biology to ecology to satellite imagery. A lot of it is Biology, but there are some events that are builds, so you build a device that has the ability to do something, like hold a bucket of sand or carry an egg a certain distance, and the build is tested at the competition.
What is the most ambitious project the club has tackled this year?
Probably a build event called Mission Possible that is basically a Rube Goldberg machine. It was very hard and took the whole team to contribute!
What has been the club’s proudest moment in the last 12 months?
Last year we made it past the regional competition and were one of seven teams selected to move on to go to state. We got to compete in Science Olympiad State, which was held at Knoxville, and our team won several medals there. Medals at State are much harder to get than regionals, so that was a very proud moment for the team.
How does the club contribute to the local or the border community?
One of the things that’s really special about our group is that it’s solely for homeschoolers, and it’s really a cool thing to get to compete against all these public schools and win medals. We offer a place in our science team for any homeschooler who lives in the right counties and wants to learn about science!
What are the long-term goals for the club?
To eventually make it to the championship round, Nationals. Only the best teams in the entire USA make it there, and although we’ve made it to state, we’ve never made it there yet.
Anything else you would like to say to ecolyst.org readers?
Never underestimate homeschoolers!
Check out DCH’s IG Account: https://www.instagram.com/dchscience/
