Greene SciOly (Science Olympiad) is a competition-based STEM club run at Greene Middle School by members of Paly’s award-winning SciOly Club. In 2022-23, we had 3 teams of 15 students preparing for competitions across 23 events in the Santa Clara Regional Science Olympiad in March. Another 3 teams of 5 prepared for competition in the California South/West Bay Area Regional Middle School Science Bowl in February. In April 2023, Greene came in 5th at the Northern California State Finals for Science Olympiad.
Who Should Join?
Self-motivated students who love science, work well with others, and are willing to put in extra time to learn and work with team members after school. Best suited for students who thrive on competition with parents willing and available to mentor and coach.
Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad (aka SciOly) is a team-based STEM competition where teams of 15 students compete with other teams across 23 events listed below. There are usually 2 students per event, and each student participates in 3-4 events.
2027 Events
Anatomy and Physiology – Teams will be assessed on their understanding of the anatomy and physiology of the digestive, immune, and respiratory of the human body.
Boomilever - Teams will design and build a cantilevered beam or truss structure that extends from a vertical testing wall and supports a load at a specified distance from the testing wall.
Botany -Teams will answer questions related to their knowledge of plant biology and horticulture
Circuit Lab - Teams will complete tasks and answer questions about electricity and magnetism.
Codebusters – Teams will cryptanalyze and decode encrypted messages using cryptanalysis techniques for historical and modern advanced ciphers.
Crime Busters – Given a scenario, a collection of evidence, and possible suspects, teams will perform a series of tests. The test results, along with other evidence, will be used to solve a crime and answer questions.
Disease Detectives - Teams will use their investigative skills in the scientific study of disease, injury, health, and disability in populations or groups of people.
Dynamic Planet - Teams will complete tasks related to Earth's fresh waters
Elastic Launched Glider- Teams will build a glider that will be launched by the pulling and releasing of a rubber loop.
Experimental Design – This event will assess a team’s ability to design, conduct, and report the findings of an experiment conducted on-site.
Food Science- Teams will analyze and answer question behind the chemical processes behind a certain food
Heredity - Teams will answer questions, solve problems, and analyze data about classic and molecular genetics.
Hovercraft - Before the competition, teams will design, construct, and calibrate a self-propelled air-levitated vehicle that moves down a track.
Meteorology – Teams will use scientific process skills involving qualitative and quantitative analyses to demonstrate an understanding of the factors that influence everyday weather through the interpretation of meteorological data, graphs, charts and images.
Ping-Pong Parachute- Teams will design a rocket that will shoot a ping-pong ball up without hitting the ceiling.
Remote Sensing - Teams will demonstrate an understanding of the basic principles of remote sensing and use imagery, data, and maps to complete tasks related to earth systems processes. An understanding of mapping principles is a component of this event.
Rocks and Minerals - Teams will identify and classify rocks and minerals and demonstrate knowledge of how rocks and minerals help to understand geologic processes, interpretation of Earth's history, the development of natural resources, and use by society.
Roller Coaster -Teams design and build a roller coaster for a ball to travel along.
Scrambler - Teams design, build, and test a mechanical device, which uses the energy from a falling mass to transport and egg along a track as quickly as possible and stop as close to the center of a terminal barrier without breaking the egg.
Solar System - Teams will demonstrate their knowledge of planet formation and structure within and beyond the solar system.
Thermodynamics - Teams design and build a device to insulate a beaker of hot water and take a test on the concepts of thermodynamics.
Water Quality - Teams will be assessed on their understanding and evaluation of marine and estuaries environments.
Write It/Do It – One student will write a description of an object and how to build it, and then the other student will attempt to construct the object from this description.
Block Schedule
Events are split up into blocks, which is what events will run at the same time at most competitions. When trying out, just note that you will only get one event per block with the exception of build events
Link to block schedule :https://www.soinc.org/sites/default/files/uploaded_files/SO_Conflict_Blocks_2027_.pdf
How are SciOly Tournaments scored?
Event scores are ranked by team, then scores from each event are added to get the team score, less is better. Usually top five event teams are given medals and top 3 teams are awarded trophies. Top 4 schools in the Santa Clara Regional Science Olympiad get to compete in the Northern California State Science Olympiad in mid-April.
Scores from the 2025 Santa Clara Regional Science Olympiad can be found here.
Tournament Schedule
Physical tournaments are full day off-site events where all 15 team members attend but compete at different times, capped by an awards ceremony. Virtual tournaments are held at Greene over 2 afternoons after school.
Parent Volunteers
Paly student-mentors are great because many have been through the middle school experience. However, they're also get busy preparing for their own events before tournaments. Parent volunteers help pick up the slack when Paly students aren't available. Help is needed in the following areas:
Coaching: Parents with subject matter expertise or project management experience are welcome. It can be convenient to coach your own child, but sometimes more effective and educational to coach others. Expect 1-2 hours a week time commitment.
Logistics: Many engineering events require space for building and testing, which need advance reservations. Full day tournaments require transportation, food and photography.
Science Olympiad Time Commitment for 2026-27
Club meetings Tuesdays after school for one hour in the MPR, starting Tuesday, August 25, 2026.
Tryouts on Tuesday and Thursday after school for 2 hours on Sept 15 and Sept 17
Greene tournaments Tuesdays and Thursdays after school for 2 hours on:
Oct 20, Oct 22
Nov 3, Nov 5
Dec 1, Dec 3
Off-site tournaments Saturdays 7am-6pm on the following dates (subject to change):
Dec 5, 2026 in Sacramento
Feb 27, 2027 in Berkeley
Mar 13, 2027 in Milpitas
April 3 or 10, 2027 in Hayward (TBD varsity team members only)
Self-arranged partner study/work meetings (1-2 hours/week/event, 3 hours for build events) which increase in frequency before competitions.
Year-End Celebration in May, 2027
Science Bowl
Science Bowl is a fast-paced competition where 5-person teams face-off against each other answering short questions in physical science, life science, math, energy, and earth and space science.
A full description and history can be found here, and an example competition can be seen below:
Science Bowl Time Commitment
Club meetings once per week September through February (exact day TBD)
One Science Bowl Tournament in February (exact date TBD)
Tryout Registration
Students interested in trying out for either Science Olympiad or Science Bowl should first attend our first club meeting after school on August 25 at 3:20pm in the MPR. If you're determined to tryout after that meeting, click on the button below to fill out our registration form.