Every year, a few events truly put our planning skills to the test, either due to MIT’s meticulous approval process or the sheer number of moving parts. This year, the biggest challenges came from Chemistry Lab and Bungee Drop. In the posts that follow, the point persons for each event will give you a peek behind the scenes and share exactly how we pulled the logistics off.
Out of respect for everyone’s privacy, I’ve left out names and specific titles in this post. While a ton of people helped make this tournament happen, I’ve kept things general so no one gets accidentally doxxed.
One of our main responsibilities while running this tournament is making sure kids don’t accidentally hurt themselves. The main culprits are the lab events (Chemistry Lab and Forensics) – which this subsection is about – and the builds, explained in the section below.
Thankfully, we know a bit more about chemistry these days than in the 60’s. For example, we know not to wash our hands with carcinogens or allow kids (future Nobel prize winners!) to buy concentrated nitric acid from the local pharmacy, or encourage people to play around with uranium and mercury. Smoking in the lab was also once normal—technically a fire hazard around organic solvents, but ironically useful as an early-warning system for cyanide leaks. Different times.
The regulatory body at MIT regarding all kinds of safety is EHS (Environment, Health, and Safety); an office that I got to know quite intimately through frequent communication leading up to the tournament. The choice of location was critical for both of these SciOly events. Chemistry Lab was held in one of MIT’s teaching biology laboratories, due to the instructor’s extremely generous donation of her weekend, and it being one of the few accessible facilities able to accommodate the sheer volume of students. However, this meant that all EHS regulations would be worked up the chain in the biology department sub office.
Competitors who’ve been to previous tournaments might recognize 4-402 as the room classically used for Chemistry Lab since our invitational began in 2015. I certainly remember competing there when I was a freshman in high school—all the way back in 2020, during pre-COVID era. However, more than halfway through our tournament planning process, we got word that one of the biology teaching laboratories might be available. This was a golden opportunity: MIT has some extremely strict restrictions on minors in laboratory environments, and we historically have not been able to secure a second lab in addition to the one used for Forensics. This was a chance for us to establish precedent and hopefully provide a proper lab experience for years to come.
The first person I contacted (in mid-December) was someone in the biology department who handles event logistics and building access. They were also the first checkpoint for official space use approval, after we got a verbal yes from the lab donor. Up to this point, the ESs had actually planned around four different lab experiments, with varying levels of “safety” and material requirements. We were optimistic about getting approval for the more exciting labs (one involved fire and crucibles), but had more ordinary backups prepared just in case.
This is where the process started getting complicated. Because EHS had recently hired new administrators, we weren’t entirely sure who else to contact. Thankfully, we were pointed toward two staff members involved in department-level EHS coordination. Contact didn’t resume until the first week of January due to winter break, and we had been expecting a fairly straightforward process. Instead, I found myself in a whirlwind of extra checkboxes to tick—with the tournament just 10 days away.
Our conversations quickly looped in a third person with broader EHS responsibilities at MIT. At that point, I made the executive decision (much to our ESs’ chagrin) to strictly pursue the most conservative, safety-conscious experiments—those that competitors saw on tournament day: a qualitative analysis lab and an equilibrium lab focused on copper complexes, both heavily inspired by ACS-published AP Chemistry labs. The main concerns were the concentration and identity of the chemicals used, proper disposal of chemical waste, and a detailed safety plan in case of incidents or injury.
We had Zoom calls and sprawling email chains, all as I scrambled to coordinate with the ESs, the PC (to order more materials for the backup lab), and rushed to finalize the documentation. Updates were made on the fly (concentrations were reduced to 0.01 M), we had to source gloves due to the inability to verify the efficacy of every competitor’s personal PPE, and I nervously watched the calendar tick closer to tournament day. There were serious discussions about scrapping the lab section altogether, but the folks at EHS and our ESs were brilliantly efficient. We got the go-ahead on January 22nd, just three days before the tournament.
Unfortunately, in the chaos, there were still some mistakes on our end. We’re very sorry to all the first block competitors who were confused by the signs (which happened to be printed before we got permission to use the lab!) and schedule pointing to the backup Chemistry Lab room, and for the last-minute communications about the lab events.
Hopefully, this provides a bit of insight into the logistics behind ensuring safety for over 140 competitors. Thankfully, this stressful process should be a one-time situation, with future years able to learn from and reuse the procedures developed for this tournament. It’s not easy to run a lab event, and I want to thank everybody involved for making competition day run remarkably smoothly.
It’s no surprise that an event as complex as Bungee Drop comes with an equally challenging setup process. It was a journey working with Environment Health and Safety (EHS), Science Olympiad rules, and MIT administration to pull this event off successfully.
Our committee began searching for a Bungee Drop site as soon as the academic year began. Let me let you in on a secret: MIT has very few unobstructed large drops. This was perhaps our most difficult challenge.
While you might recall a few elevated surfaces from running around during MIT Scioly at your events, we were unable to reserve many spaces because they were located in very open areas. Next, we scoured the MIT Athletic Center. We considered staircases (too many obstructions), squash courts (did not come close to 5m), and even basketball courts.
Eventually, we were able to reserve Lobdell in the Student Center, which worked well since Lobdell is a closed-off space, decreasing the risk to competitors, spectators, and volunteers. Special shoutout to the Measure app for supporting this process during my field trips around MIT’s campus.
I was personally very surprised when Science Olympiad announced the revival of Bungee Drop. Generally, it is one of the more unsafe events. It is inevitable that competitors and event organizers come close to the 5–10m drop throughout the event’s duration.
This called for a meeting with MIT’s EHS department. We were educated on the importance of prioritizing competitor safety and devised a “safety speech” to deliver to all the teams. Since our release mechanism involved a ladder, I had to watch a 13-minute ladder safety video. I can legally climb a ladder at MIT now!
Some of the highlights from the video are:
However, in order to use a ladder, we need a ladder. Ladders are very expensive so we decided to contact different organizations at MIT who have ladders. Since MIT facilities and maintenance could not legally lend ladders to student-run organizations, we then turned to MIT student groups.
We corresponded with East Campus, Next Haunt, and the MIT Ladder Society. Next Haunt, a group associated with Next House that creates an escape room during Halloween, graciously lent us two of their ladders!
After a long preparation period, tournament week arrived. With being both a PC and ES, it was a little hectic. I’ll share some of my favorite stories from this magical time.
I had to transport all of the packages that were shipped to my dorm to the Den (our HQ and work area). There were quite a few boxes and I did not want to wait for the Tech Shuttle so I decided to walk it. About 20 steps outside of my dorm, I absolutely ate it. Not even on a patch of ice, I tripped on air?? Well, I gathered my boxes and kept walking.
I made it to a light intersection and decided to put my boxes on some bushes. Bushes are so sat on they make great “helping hands.” Anyways, when the light changed I grabbed my boxes and kept walking but then I was like “what if I forgot something in a bush?” So I decided to go back and scour the bushes for anything important. I probably looked really silly looking in a bush, but that’s ok, it’s all for SciOly.
Eventually, I got all my things to the Den (woo hoo!). I began organizing boxes for my event, other events I was in charge of, and the building events.
‘Twas the night before Tournament day, when all through the Den. Not a PC was stirring, not even Richard Deng. All the event boxes were packed with care and soon, Eleni and Chen-Young went there.
Bright and early at 4 am, my co-ES and I began setting up for Bungee Drop. The Student Center is, in fact, not open at that time. We eventually got let in and began set-up. This process took quite a while since we had to transport materials between two floors.
A few magic sparkles later and ta-da, Bungee Drop ran through the whole day. As a first-time ES, I am proud of Bungee Drop and can’t wait to learn from our mistakes and improve for next year!
Bye for now!