In the corner of his crowded room, there is a large ball made of blue pipe cleaners along with other miscellaneous objects. Next to this peculiar model, there is a pile of gold medals- 21 to be exact- with different sizes and colors of ribbons. Now, this may look quite extraordinary to most people, but for senior Jon Garcia, captain of the Science Olympiad team along with seniors Veronica Castillo and Aniruddh Mehra, his medals themselves are not worth a penny. Instead, he cares more for what they represent. 

“I see them as a way of validating my efforts. At the end of the day, it’s about how well you did, not what medal you got. I use them as a constant reminder of how well I can do at these events. It’s my motivation,” Garcia said.

It is no surprise that Garcia holds mountains of medals; he placed fifth in state for anatomy and physiology as a freshman and placed fifth again in state for protein modeling along with seniors Megan Martinez and Kirsten Ong. In fact, this model is the very same ball of pipe cleaners residing in his bedroom. Not only does it represent his achievement in Science Olympiad, but this model changed his entire career as he decided to switch from medicine to biochemistry after falling in love with the science behind protein modeling.

However, his love for science does not stop there. His main goal as captain this year is to recruit as many students as possible for Science Olympiad and pass on his torch of passion to the underclassman. 

“He really wants the clubs that he’s in to continue past this year. We all are missing underclassmen, so we knew that he needed to get underclassmen. He’s really stepped it up,” Science Olympiad teacher Allison Tuleo said. 

As captain, Garcia has introduced fun games and icebreakers, such as name games, to create the close-knit community he so desperately wants. 

“He adds all of those little details to make people laugh. Overall, he’s a pretty good captain and he tries his best,” co-captain Castillo said.

Garcia devotes so much effort to broaden the number of members in Science Olympiad because it has given him so much, and he knows it can for others also.

“[Science Olympiad] taught me how to take pride in my accomplishments. Doing well in an event is no small feat since there are tons of other people putting in the same amount of effort as you. For you to see your team name come on the board when they announce medals makes you really feel something,” Garcia said.

Science Olympiad meets every Wednesday from 2:35 to 3:00 p.m. and is open to everyone.