Jefferson’s Science Olympiad team will be representing the state of Virginia for two consecutive years in the Science Olympiad national tournament, which is to be held from May 16-17 at the University of Central Florida.

Amidst a short amount of time between the regional and state tournaments, the team was able to place first in state during late march, defeating Langley and James Madison High Schools, which also did well at the tournament.

“I am very proud of what the team accomplished at states,” senior Sparsh Gupta, the captain of the Science Olympiad team, said. “The competition was fierce, but thanks to the hard work of all the members, TJ has its second state title.”

During the months before the national tournament, the team will be focusing to improve on its weak events and polishing the skills of the individual members in the team. The team, which placed 25^th out of a total of 60 teams on last year’s national tournament, set the highest rank out of the past Virginia teams.

“This year, I hope we can place within the top ten teams,” Gupta said.

The team’s ambitious goal may be too challenging a goal for the members, but the students believe that their consistent and dedicated work will be paid off in high placements in the national tournament.

“By setting this goal, we should be able to improve on our performance from last year,” Gupta said. “This team has magnitudes of potential, evidenced by our tournament records thus far. Hopefully, we can continue our streaks into nationals.