Highlands Intermediate School

Highlands Intermediate School is a Division B school which qualified for seven national competitions at the Hawaii 2008, 2009, 2013, 2015, 2016, 2017, and the 2018 state competitions. These include the national competitions at George Washington University 2008, Augusta State University 2009, Wright State University 2013, University of Nebraska 2015, the University of Wisconsin 2016, the Wright State University 2017, and the Colorado State University 2018. As only 3 invitationals in Hawaii currently exist, they commonly travel and/or participate in invitationals out of Hawaii.

At the 2018 National Tournament at Colorado State University, Highlands did phenomenal, doing the best they have in the 7 years that they have attended nationals. They advanced their placing from the previous year by 11, and decreased their score by a whopping 211 points! They placed 12th overall, with an impressive score of 376 points. They earned a total of 3 national medals in Experimental Design, Fast Facts, and Potions and Poisons, and had two 7th places in Herpetology and Thermodynamics.

They theoretically would've placed in the top 10, however due to the competition venue having a unbalanced floor they got tiered in Roller Coaster (in other words, had Roller Coaster been thrown out for everyone, they would have placed 9th).

National Medals
-In 2015, Highlands was the national champion of Can't Judge a Powder, placed 4th in Picture This and also placed 3rd in the Trial Event Science Bowl.

-In 2016, Highlands placed 3rd in the then trial event Hovercraft.

-In 2017, Highlands placed 3rd in Dynamic Planet and 2nd in Fast Facts.

-In 2018, Highlands placed 2nd in Experimental Design, is the national champions in Fast Facts, and placed 6th in Potions and Poisons.

The Perplexing Performance of 2018
On May 19th, 2018, Highlands Intermediate School put on the most spectacular nationals performance ever by a Hawaii team. As mentioned in the sections above, an astounding 12th team place shocked everyone on the team. So, let us revisit the events leading up to that glorious day. After barely surviving states and just edging out of Iolani's grasp, all that was on the minds of the students on the Highlands team was relief. The toughest challenge was over, and, as they all went to celebrate, alone or with others, a competitive fire was planted in their consciences for the challenge that lay ahead: nationals. Although it didn't burn nearly as fierce as their desire to win states, they were going to make sure HIS opened some eyes. The next two and a half months were filled with anxiety and anticipation, with the ninth graders determined to make a final Div B stand, eighth graders ready for a fight, and a seventh grader ready to become known. Countless hours were dedicated to analyzing states tests and revamping notes over and over again. And then the true journey arrived. After a tiring red-eye flight (which few members studied on), the team finally touched down in the mile-high state. The day of the trial events was a good breather and allowed many students to relax a little, but HIS was still amped up for the following day. Let's skip to the night of that very day, a few hours before competition, at the hotel. And boy, was it hectic. In one area, students were cramming handwritten information into the margins of their notes, as well as Chick-Fil-A fries into their mouths (hey, we don't have those in the Aloha state, so we have reason to enjoy them). A few feet away, others were sorting out the swap meet scores amongst themselves. Adjacent to them, even more kids were eating their fears away via Trader Joe's food (none of those here, either). But regardless of their actions, nothing would alleviate them from the burden on their shoulders. As HIS arrived at the beautiful CSU campus, students wished each other good luck as the first time slot of the competition arrived, consisting of impound, Fast Facts, and Disease Detectives. Most, if not all, of the tournament time was used for either testing or studying even more. Yet, every event that passed lifted some of the burden off the competitors' shoulders. When the last time slot came to an end, all they could do was wait for the results and hope for the best. A scrumptious meal at Olive Garden (same dilemma as the others) followed the end of testing, and the beginning of the end of the journey. As they reentered the Moby Arena for the closing ceremony, anxiety once again entered their bloodstream as they awaited the results. When they announced that all tests have been graded, anticipation settled in the atmosphere. The first six events went in a blur, and despite Galahad being extremely arrogant about Crime Busters, we did not place (my dude, we got 26th, which was both of our worst placements). Then, during Experimental Design, out of nowhere, "Second place, from Hawaii, Highlands Intermediate School!" Many of us could not contain our excitement, considering two ninth graders were able to make the podium. The trio dedicated many hours to the event, and I'm certainly grateful that their grit paid off. The event right after, Fast Facts, held a special place in the HIS community, as we placed second last year, and the exact same duo did the event. As second place, Springhouse, was announced, the two looked down in shame. On their minds was one particular category, "Superheroes or Villains Who Defy Physics", and as neither of them have watched more than three DC/Marvel movies, they believed their lack of cinema was going to be their death. However, then came the voice of the emcee: "And in first place, from Hawaii, Highlands Intermediate School!" The tone of the announcer was audibly perplexed as were the two national champions. I guess that plane studying time helped out after all. The following six events passed with no eventfulness. However, the first thing said for Potions and Poisons was, "Sixth place from Hawaii, Highlands Intermediate School." At least it was a medal, even if it was sixth (which could easily pass off as a bronze). Galahad believed that, "Potions is the last event I thought we'd medal in" and had authority to do so, as a backbreaking lab combined with a hand-killing test left he and Jimmy-bond basically hopeless. But, they managed to pull it off. The rest of the closing ceremony didn't grant any placings for the students of Highlands, but it had already achieved the most amount of medaled main events in the history of its SciOly program. The awards ceremony was exhilarating and all, but the real heartwarming sense of accomplishment happened right when we stepped out of the stadium. The drama unfolded as one of our chaperones pulled out the results paper and announced, "You guys got 12th overall!" At first, I was in utter disbelief. Three medals and 12th place? That doesn't add up. I had to see it to believe it. But, when I looked down the statline, I realized that medals aren't the only thing that matters. It was a true team collaboration. As displayed in the table below, there were a number of top 10s and an outstanding number of top 20s. Only two events fell at or below the 30th place mark, which is a considerable improvement from the previous year's eleven. The numbers are truly remarkable. But, although it is mentioned above, Roller Coaster was a hefty outlier. Now, if the pair that did this event is reading this, we don't blame you whatsoever. You did your best, which is all we asked from you guys. The factors that caused that placement were not in your control, and not something that you should burden upon yourselves. Also, if anyone from this Highlands team is reading this, I want to thank all of you guys for making this the best year thus far of Highlands Science Olympiad. Each and everyone of you was remarkable, and I, Jimmy-bond am truly grateful to have been a part of such a wonderful team. GO COLTS!

Competitor Pages
-Galahad (2017-2019)

-Jimmy-bond (2016-2018)

-Thewaffleguy (2017)