Why did you want to start a Science Olympiad team at Sacred Heart Greenwich?

“My sister, Gabrielle Wheeler ‘23, and I wanted to start a Science Olympiad team because of the great experience we had with Science Olympiad in middle school.  At the school that we went to before coming to Sacred Heart for my freshman year and her eighth-grade year, respectively, the Science Olympiad team had just been established.  It was a lot of fun to learn about science and engineering topics that weren’t delved into in the middle school curriculum.  The reward from our work was that our school’s team placed sixth out of 32 teams at regionals and was named the best new team.  I wanted to share my love of science with like-minded Sacred Heart girls.  Being part of Science Olympiad was one of my favorite middle school experiences because of the team and the interesting topics, so I wanted to be part of that community again by establishing a team.”

What do you hope to achieve with the team?

“I hope that we can win medals at states in April.  We’re aiming to be the best new team and to get medals at the invitationals, starting with Sacred Heart University in January.  More than that, I want to demonstrate to people in Connecticut and at invitationals that girls can excel in science, which is something that can often be overlooked.  Also, as high schoolers I think it’s important for all of the team members to be role models for the middle and lower schoolers.  Because of this, I hope to be able to help start a division B team for the middle school to get them interested in STEM [science, technology, engineering, and mathematics] and prepare them for high school Science Olympiad in the future.” 

How do you hope that the team will impact the school community?

“The main reason I wanted to start a Science Olympiad team here is because I have a passion for STEM.  I think that a lot of girls end up disliking the sciences or not realizing that they can succeed in them and I think this needs to change.  Helping to be a part of this change by bringing more STEM opportunities at Sacred Heart is important to me because it gives girls a chance to compete and show themselves and others what they can do with their learning.  The results of all the preparations bring a sports-like appeal to academics that most people find unexpectedly fun.  I hope the team will make more people interested in pursuing science.”

The King Street Chronicle thanks sophomore Angélique Wheeler ’22 for her contributions to “Humans of Sacred Heart”. 

Photo by Natalie Dosmond ’21