By Eva Xu
Staff Writer
Wong helps a middle school student with her “Roller Coaster” build during a summer engineering workshop. In this event, competitors design a fun coaster aiming to hit a target with a marble.
During the Science Olympiad USC Invitational, Temple City class of 2022 alumni Ryan Wong strolls through the bustling campus as students chatter excitedly, their voices filling the air under the bright midday sun. Once under the roof of the tall university building, he stops before a decorated doorway, leaning in to catch a glimpse of the teams meticulously handling their wooden builds. Proud of their work, he searches for the next room of young scientists to check in on.
“You might think Science Olympiad is only supposed to teach kids science, but I’ve been able to learn so many new skills through volunteering,” Wong said. “It’s helped me grow my skills in mentorship, public speaking, organization and leadership.”
Wong sits on the executive board of the Southern California Science Olympiad, serving as the Los Angeles Regional Director. Graduating from Temple City as the captain of the SciOly team, he became the region’s volunteer coordinator in his freshman year of college, rising to director as a sophomore.
Managing a region of SciOly competitions comes with challenges. Wong manages Los Angeles’s Divisions A, B and C for elementary schoolers, middle schoolers and high schoolers respectively. He organizes five major regional tournaments, including the Division A regional held at TCHS and the Division B and C USC Invitational. Apart from his primary role, Wong acts as an event supervisor at Nationals for the microbiology topic, writing, proctoring and developing parameters for the exam.
Overall, Wong supports and plans for more than 200 teams and around 3,000 student competitors. He coordinates with tournament hosts and college chapters, recruits volunteers and works closely with the National Science Olympiad.
“When I first became Regional Director, I felt a sense of pride and excitement but it was mixed with fear and doubt,” Wong said. “I was the youngest Regional Director in Southern California history. I didn’t know it at the time, but this feeling is called perceived fraudulence…it took time and open, honest conversations with mentors and peers to get over this feeling.”
His journey in Science Olympiad began at Cloverly Elementary and continued throughout high school. Wong competed in a wide range of topics, including geology, biotechnology, satellites and water quality. His favorite and most decorated event was Forensics, where students compete by identifying substances using methods like testing pH levels, reactions to different reagents and testing solubility and conductivity from imitated crime scenes.
“The nights before competition where we would meet up to cram in a little more studying before going to sleep [are my favorite],” Wong said. “We would never really get any studying done but it was great to be able to nerd out about little things you learn about and connect over them.”
A current UCLA junior, Wong is on track for a degree in computational & systems biology, specializing in bioinformatics. This major focuses on using mathematical tools to analyze vast amounts of data, mostly genetic profiles. He plans to continue volunteering with Science Olympiad in the future.
“I’m proud of him, I feel like he has put so much heart into it,” Science Olympiad Advisor Kevin Slattery said. “He was a captain of our team and our team is student-run…I’m happy to give them advice, but really they’re managing the team, so he had a lot of experience doing that.”