Two Science Olympiad medalists from the AYLUS Chapel Hill Branch were invited to help coach a newly-formed Elementary Science Olympiad team in the Cary and Chapel Hill area, called Atomic Ants. Kevin Hu, a Science Olympiad veteran who has actively participated in over 10 tournaments in middle and high school, has previously received gold medals at the North Carolina Science Olympiad States Tournament in both Codebusters and Solar System. He volunteered to coach Codebusters and be an advisor for the Sky Quest event for the Atomic Ants team. Vivian Zhang, an experienced member of the Science Olympiad and a current member in the Division B Rocks and Minerals event, also volunteered to coach Rocks and Minerals to educate elementary schoolers about the fascinating world of geology. Many elementary schools in the Triangle area no longer offer little STEM lovers the experience of being a part of a Science Olympiad team, so a group of kids got together and decided to form their own. This team of 17 kids (from 3rd to 5th grade) from parts of Chapel Hill and Cary worked together to establish a Division A Science Olympiad team, aided by Vivian and Kevin. These AYLUS members are spear leading this effort in providing coaching and advisory services to Atomic Ants SciOly team. As advisors, they introduced the world of the Science Olympiad to the kids and helped them understand the competition event, format, and rules. Furthermore, they helped coach individual events and aim to fully prepare the team for an upcoming Regionals Tournament. The coaching program was kicked off on March 5th and will last 9 weeks. The competition is scheduled on Saturday, May 6th at Shallotte Middle School in Wilmington, NC. As dedicated event coaches, Kevin and Vivian prepared slideshows for each meeting, met regularly with the kids both online and in-person, and networked with past coaches for additional advice. They created structure and accountability and also kept the meeting entertaining – providing them with challenges
and mini rewards for accomplishing tasks and good effort.
The volunteers that participated in this event were:
Kevin Hu (Total 7 hours): 03/05/2023 1 hour; 03/12/2023 3 hours; 03/19/2023 3 hours
Vivian Zhang (Total 6 hours): 03/12/2023 3 hours; 03/19/2023 3 hours
Reported by Kevin Hu and Vivian Zhang