Mason High School's Science Olympiad team made program history this spring, capturing a second consecutive Ohio state championship and then earning eight medals at the national tournament at the University of Southern California.
No Mason team had ever won back-to-back state titles.
At the Ohio tournament, the Comets placed in the top three in 12 of 23 events, with five first-place finishes. Fifteen students competed on the varsity roster at state, drawn from a 27-member championship squad advised by Steven Seiler.
The team then traveled to USC for the national tournament on May 23, where they medaled in eight events against the country's top programs. Monta Vista High School of Cupertino, California, won the national title.
Captains Alice Chi and Angela Tang addressed the Mason City Schools Board of Education on Tuesday, Aug. 18, during a recognition ceremony for the team. Both are Class of 2027 members entering their senior year this fall, and many of their teammates started Science Olympiad together in middle school.
"Science Olympiad has taught us that achievement in the sciences is rarely individual," Chi and Tang told the board. "While we're obviously extremely proud of our achievements this season, we recognize that it comes from collaboration, persistence, and people contributing their individual strengths to a common goal."
The captains said the team's scoring structure reinforces that ethos. All 23 event scores combine for a team's final result, meaning no single event can carry a tournament.
Board Vice President Matt Steele told the students their legacy extends beyond trophies. He credited the team's enthusiasm for growing Science Olympiad across the district, saying their passion for sharing the program with fellow students mattered "even more than the championship."
A districtwide pipeline
About 100 students participate in Science Olympiad at Mason High School, according to district officials. Programs at Mason Intermediate and Mason Middle School feed the high school team, putting hundreds of students districtwide into the pipeline.
The season stretches well beyond the state and national tournaments. Mason's team travels to elite invitationals at MIT and the University of Michigan and hosts its own online invitational. In January, a snowstorm stranded the team at an airport for more than 24 hours after the MIT invitational in Boston. Team member Alice Luo told the MHS Chronicle in April that the delay became a bonding moment: the group played cards, ate together and freshmen got to know upperclassmen they might not have spoken to otherwise.
What's next
Chi and Tang said the team's goal for the coming season is to expand membership and send squads to multiple invitationals simultaneously so more students gain competition experience.
