I have participated in Chemistry Olympiads for many years, ever since 7th grade. This journey has been a lot of work, but also more fun than I could have ever imagined. A brief synopsis of my trip is given below, and you can find the resources I used for Chemistry Olympiad preparation in my blog post.
IChO 2025
- Before IChO, the team had an intense two weeks of studying at home with many meetings between us.
- Arriving at IChO, we immediately started having a lot of fun conversing with each other and with teams from other countries.
- The exams and labs were sometimes a bit hard, so we were awestruck when it turned out that we all got gold medals.
- Looking back, IChO has been a great opportunity to not only learn more advanced chemistry, but also to meet so many new people.
- There is more on IChO in my blog post.
2024 & 2025 USNCO Study Camp
- In 10th grade, I continued studying chemistry and was thrilled to qualify for the study camp after a week of nervousness.
- I had a lot of fun talking and joking around with my fellow campers and learning from the lab sessions and lectures.
- In 11th grade, as I pushed for IChO, I was able to confidently qualify for camp again, where I had another fun two weeks.
Early Chemistry Experiences
- I started taking chemistry classes in 7th grade with the encouragement of my dad.
- I took Chemistry Olympiads more seriously in 9th grade, and I took the Local Exam for the first time that year.
- I was able to qualify for the USNCO and made top 150, which fueled my motivation to keep going.