The students sat around a large table in the science lab at Lamar Academy in McAllen.

Their exuberance felt palpable, smiling as their teammates spoke. The Lamar Academy International Baccalaureate Science Olympiad Team discussed how they got to this point. In January, the 20-member team will travel to the Massachusetts Institute of Technology in Cambridge, Mass. to compete against 65 other teams in a national tournament.

The Lamar Academy Team is the only South Texas team competing in the 11th annual MIT Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament.

Jose Luis Gomez, their coach, accepted the role in 2018 when he started teaching at the Lamar Academy. The team placed 29th at a state tournament in his first year as coach. Each year, they have moved up in rank, placing fifth in the state at the Texas Science Olympiad in spring 2024. The team has held the title of regional champions for eight years.

They did not gain guaranteed acceptance to the MIT tournament, which requires placing in the top 10 at nationals. They instead entered the tournament’s lottery. The lottery goal, according to the event website, is “to maintain a diverse pool of competitors while also upholding the rigor of our tournament.” They are the first Lamar Academy and McAllen school district team selected for the national tournament.

Testing & Practicing

Gomez has developed a well-oiled Science Olympiad machine.

He holds a meeting for all Lamar IB students on the first day of each school year to share information about joining the team. Prospective Science Olympians take a rigorous test, which is followed by an engineering activity and an interview. Students are evaluated based on hard skills, as well as their ability to communicate, work collaboratively, and persevere in stressful situations.

Science Olympiad is a nonprofit STEM competition. Events include genetics, chemistry, physics, geology, engineering and more. Two undergraduate MIT students founded the Science Olympiad Invitational in 2013. MIT undergraduates run the entire event.

The SciOly tournaments include two categories, test events and build events. The MIT Invitational includes all 23 Division C (high school) national events, and teams of two to three students compete in each one. Rules, guidelines and that year’s builds are provided at the start of each school year. Collaboration, creating builds and materials, trial and error, and logging results begin immediately. 

Junior captain Anthony Ha explained that build events are hands-on. Students create, research and repeatedly test their builds. He and his teammate have worked all year to perfect their free-flight, rubber-powered helicopter for one event.

For testing events, students develop a cheat sheet or binder, depending on the tournament. The trick rests in knowing what to include. Builds are heavily guarded by each team, including covering the sides of the bins they take to competitions to avoid tempting other teams.

Building Teamwork

The Lamar Academy Team meets three afternoons a week and the sessions run until about 6 p.m. There are also many Saturday meetings and practices that can go from 9 a.m. to 4 p.m. 

As competitions near, team members meet daily, except on Sundays. Spending this much time together creates more than excellent builds. 

“The events are great and winning is great, but I think the people you meet are the most important thing,” said Isabella Brenner, a senior captain.

Tracy Pham, a senior, agrees, saying, “The people you surround yourself with are very influential to your growth.” 

Lamar Olympians have test-offs, as needed, for event spots, which one might think would create team rifts. 

“It takes a great deal of maturity, but everyone on the team understands the best of the best compete at these competitions,” said Gouri Merion, a junior captain. “Ultimately, this is a team competition, not a solo.” 

Sofia Obregon, a senior, recalls losing a test-off and “never felt excluded.”

“We were gauging how we are going to approach MIT,” said Alejandro Reyes, a junior.

Brenner credits Gomez for being such an exemplary coach.

 “He motivates us so much,” she said.

Merion said Gomez taught his students that discipline will take them only so far. 

“There is this whole duality between passion and discipline,” Merion said. “Discipline comes in when we make our cheat sheets and binders, meet deadlines, and hold ourselves accountable.

“But Mr. Gomez mentions that discipline is nothing without passion,” she said. “We have that passion for ourselves but also for others, to see them place in the competition. The major take away is how we balance discipline and passion.”

(Note: Each of the 20 Lamar Science Olympians will pay a portion of the cost to attend the MIT Invitational. They have also collected $7,000 in donations. The team is still seeking sponsors for the remaining $5,000 needed to fund their trip because the school district is unable to assist.)