[quote]By Prashant Shankar
Graphic by Zainie Qureshi[/quote]

Congratulations for being recognized in the National Chemistry Science Olympiad! How did you get into the competition?

In January this year, I asked Mrs. Stokes if I could try out for USNCO, and she said no one had ever asked her before, but she set it up me anyways.

How did the competition work?

Around 100 students from the Chicago section took a two hour qualifying test, from schools like Naperville North, IMSA, Stevenson, and more. The top 20 students in Chicago were invited to take the national exam, and I was one of them (and the only national qualifier from Metea).

How many students were involved in the process?

Close to 20,000 people in the nation took the local exams, and around a 1,000 advanced to nationals. I took the five hour national test in Chicago in late April, and it was recently announced that I received the “Honors” distinction, award to the students with the top 150 scores on the national exam of the 1,000 that took it.

What was your reaction to the news?

I was honestly quite surprised because the level of competition at the national level is insanely difficult, and the test itself was quite hard.

Who’d you tell the news to first?

I was in the car after taking two AP Physics tests dropping my friends home when I saw the results, so naturally, they found out first, then my parents.