Over the past few months, a number of clubs participated in important interscholastic competitions. While some won their events and others did not, they all did an admirable job of representing the school.

Science Olympiad
Science Olympiad won the first place team trophy at the Solon Ohio Invitational in early February. This victory blew the team’s expectations out of the water. They defeated Stevenson, their main rival in Illinois, and placed ahead of Mason High School, last year’s national runner up.

The strong performance of senior Asher Noel, who won first place medals alongside junior Irene Xu in Astronomy and juior Jason You-Onin in Circuit Lab, was key to the victory. “I’m fortunate to have amazing partners in my events, and our performance reflects the commitment we have to joyful learning,” said Noel.

DECA
On Feb. 23, DECA competed at the Area DECA Meet and qualified to compete at the State Meet later this March. A number of competitors won their events, including senior Bill Yen in Entrepreneurship Individual Series and senior Anna Shah in Apparel & Accessories Management.

Math Team
Math Team placed first at the State Regional Math Meet on Feb. 23, qualifying for the State Competition later this spring. The Algebra 1, Geometry, Algebra 2, and Freshman-Sophomore and Junior-Senior 8 person teams won their categories.

Junior Precalculus competitor Emily Dale felt the team had a solid overall performance. “We’ve won our regional basically every year, but our team score was the highest it’s been in years,” said Dale.

Chess Team
Chess Team placed fifth on tiebreakers at the state tournament in late February. They went 6-1 for the tournament, only losing a close match to Barrington by a margin of 2 points.

Despite the close loss, junior David Peng believes the team has a strong chance of winning the tournament next year. “The scene of IHSA is changing dramatically next year, as top players from Whitney Young (winners of this year’s tournament), Stevenson, and a multitude of other top schools are graduating,” said Peng.

Scholastic Bowl
Scholastic Bowl started the regular season off strong by winning against Maine South and Niles North, but finished with three straight losses.

The team fell short at the Central Suburban League Championship on Feb. 28. Scholastic Bowl Coach Benjamin P. Yang said the team, “beat Maine West in the first round, but then unfortunately lost to Vernon Hills in the quarterfinals.”

Debate
Over President’s day weekend, top debaters competed at the prestigious Harvard National High School Invitational Forensics Tournament. Junior Max Rosen lead New Trier, advancing to the final session of Congressional Debate and earning a qualifying bid to the Tournament of Champions, a competition that features the country’s best debaters.

Senior Congressional Debate Captain Will Naviaux felt the team did an excellent overall job. Looking ahead, he thinks the team has a bright future because Rosen’s “knowledge and experience with the team will make him able to do some really good things for the team.”

Model UN
From March 1 to March 3, Model UN competed at the University of California Berkeley Model UN conference. Arguably the most important Model UN conference in the world, the Berkeley conference has over 1,200 High School attendees.

According to Sophomore Model UN member Max Russo, the team had an average performance at Berkeley. “None of us got Research or Best Delegate awards, but we did quite good considering that our school doesn’t have a prestigious Model UN program,” said Russo.