The Science of Winning

Troy High School became a three-time winner of the prestigious National Science Olympiad this weekend after its students answered questions about everything from cells to stars.

The Fullerton school’s 17 team members beat 53 other teams while competing in 34 events at Eastern Washington University in Spokane, Wash.

Coach Dan Junpanian, chairman of the school’s science department, said the award means even more this year because there were more teams and increasingly difficult questions. The school won in 1999 and in 1996.

“The competition has gotten tougher. There are more teams and . . . the quality of the event is improving. It’s tougher to win,” Junpanian said. “That put a lot of pressure on us, but we did quite well.”

The students beat their peers in contests that challenged their knowledge of biology, chemistry, physics and engineering.

Troy is a science magnet school in the Fullerton Unified High School District that attracts studentsfrom as far away as Los Angeles.

In the competition, the team built a balsa tower that weighed only 3.5 grams but supported 50 pounds. They maneuvered a toy car over two bumps without breaking an egg carried on its roof, and worked to keep a rubber band-powered airplane aloft.

The competition continued with students answering questions about amphibians, reptiles, cells and star constellations. They also built a battery-powered vehicle, launched bottle rockets and built a Rube Goldberg-like device that demonstrated a series of energy transfers.

All this was on one Saturday, with only a cheeseburger for fortification.

It was no sweat, said Troy team member Jennifer Huang, 16.

What really made the group nervous was the awards ceremony Saturday night, she said.

Troy students took home 13 awards in individual events, but it wasn’t clear if they had done well enough for the big victory.

When they heard their name announced, she said, “I just thought, I can’t really believe it.”

Troy student Ana Lonyai, 16, said, “We didn’t know what to expect. I was pretty hopeful, but some others weren’t.”

Junpanian said Troy amassed 718 points, beating a school from Centerville, Ohio, with 657 points and another from Lakeville, Minn., with 646 points.

El Rancho Middle School in Anaheim, a campus in the Orange Unified School District, also was a contender at the nationals, but did not place in the top 10 for its division at the nationals, said assistant coach Harris Oishi.