APPLY TO EVENT SUPERVISE FOR 2026!!!
Given that ES applications for this year’s tournament are closing this week, we asked some of our 2025 ESes to share on their experience from last year’s tournament. Here’s what they had to say – if you are selected to ES you may get to experience such things as well :D
I’ve been test writing for astronomy since 2020 and every tournament it makes me feel so ancient but so nostalgic… I miss running around between events and eating Costco food in random classrooms and screaming for my friends in auditoriums more than I could have ever realized. For me Science Olympiad was always a reminder that science is really about curiosity and excitement and doing cool stuff with other people. I hope it’s still like that for everyone who takes my tests each year.
— April Cheng, Astronomy
Hi! I was one of the entomology supervisors, and I just wanted to say thanks so much for taking the test! We designed it to be challenging and different from standard entomology tests, incorporating lots of unique topics and research figures. I’m sure the questions were hard to answer given three minutes per station and it was even harder to grade (oops!). Sadly we didn’t have live specimens but maybe next time? I hope you guys were able to learn something new and had fun taking the test. See y’all at the next entomology test I write! :P
— Run Zhou, Entomology
I really enjoyed preparing the unconventional stations; I’ve experimented with this before but it came into full bloom in this exam. I had a codebreaking station in a prior Forestry test with mixed reception, and was able to improve the concept to make the equivalent station in MIT a lot better. I’m also glad that the video game station was appreciated, as it was rather difficult to write. Overall, probably the best test I’ve (co)written, hopefully it induced some stress, fun, and growth.
Tangentially—one of my professors coincidentally brought up structural color the week after MIT when discussing rendering.
— Sahil Gandhi, Entomology
As a result of MIT Scioly’s gracious offer to let me be an ES for Fossils, I finally had the time to experimentally pursue some of my most burning questions, such as “Do I really have what it takes to stand up to big boy baddie daddy Dunkleosteus?” and “How many trilobites must I consume before I become a big boy baddie daddy Dunkleosteus myself?” Admittedly, both of these investigations are still works in progress, but I hope to one day find definitive solutions to them (or, alternatively, find the answer to “How to get with sigma daddy Dunkle himself”).
— Arjun Patel, Fossils
MIT was amazing! My favorite part was undoubtedly meeting and interacting with other passionate supervisors from MIT and nationwide, as well as seeing so many competitors from across the country challenge themselves with particularly tough tests. I loved seeing all the performances, since our test required students to dig deep into their geological toolkits to answer complicated problems. Seeing students really grapple with complex geology was so fun, and I hope they can use those lessons to improve their Geologic Mapping for the rest of the season.
— Aidan York, Geologic Mapping
Remember kids, 3 hours of sleep and 2 energy drinks is enough to get you through anything, even MIT Invite.
— Chen-Young Lin, Bungee Drop