This year at Mountain View High School, one of the newest clubs on campus is Biology Club, headed by sophomores Eunice Yang, club president, and Nishan Sohoni, club vice president. Other club officers include, Victoria Baney, club secretary, Adrienne Chen, club treasurer, and Maya Sanghavi, club community service coordinator.

“This club is for people, who are interested in biology, to take their own path and have a similar group of people who can support them,” Sohoni said.

Yang and Sohoni began planning and preparing for the Biology Club in mid September of this year.

“Both of us were interested in taking the Biology Olympiad, and we knew that there was a Science Olympiad Club, but that the Biology Olympiad is quite different from the Science Olympiad, so we wanted to gather a group of people who are all interested in taking the test,” Sohoni said.

“It’s really about self motivation. For example, one of the main focuses of the club is the test, so it’s really about how much you want to study,” Sohoni said.

The Biology Club officers compiled a syllabus outlining a timeline with topics to study until the Biology Olympiad test is administered in February 2016.

“We picked the most important topics in the book and then we combined all the chapters in these five main topics,” Yang said. “We sorted them out into different weeks and after each time, we have a practice session as a club to talk about these topics.”

The orientation of the club is self-focused in that each member has the freedom to set their own tempo and work ethic for studying for the upcoming Biology Olympiad.

“It’s very individually focused and that’s the purpose of the syllabus, so that we’re a guideline for people to study, but in the end your success has to come from you and your work,” Yang said.

At club meetings, topics from the Biology Olympiad are reviewed as part of the typical meeting plan.

“Every club meeting, we have at least two practice problems from the Biology Olympiad so that’s every few weeks getting people thinking about the test and reminding them to study,” Yang said. “And it’s a good opportunity for the people to learn more.”

Beyond functioning as a place to study for the Biology Olympiad, the Biology Club serves as an avenue to explore biology itself in greater depth including through speakers.

At the next club meeting, Friday, December 4th, the CEO of DNA 2.0, Sridhar Govindarajan, will be speaking in room 121.