FULSHEAR, Texas (Covering Katy News) — Haochen Wang of Jordan High School in Fulshear earned a silver medal at the USA Biology Olympiad National Finals, according to the Center for Excellence in Education.
Nearly 11,900 students from 690 schools in 44 states and 25 international schools registered for the nationwide high school competition, the center said.
During the 10-day finals at Marymount University in Arlington, Virginia, students participated in theoretical and practical tutorials. The high school students studied with leading U.S. biologists in cellular and molecular biology, plant anatomy and physiology, animal anatomy and physiology, genetics and evolution, ecology, ethology and biosystematics. Kathy Frame, the olympiad's director, mentored the scholars.
At the closing medal ceremony, Allen Lin, a principal scientist in bioinformatics at Regeneron who competed in the olympiad in 2005 and 2006, delivered the keynote address.
Wang has won medals multiple times at national tournaments, including second place in cell biology at the Science Olympiad National Invitational and first place in experimental design at Bird Science Olympiad. He has earned more than 70 medals competing in high school.
Wang has co-written or written eight tests for Science Olympiad tournaments and CSE. Last summer, he contributed to research on oxalate catabolism in plants at the Nakata lab.
This is Wang's third year participating in the olympiad. He qualified for the top 50 in 2022 and 2023.
Wang won an academic achievement award at Jordan High School. In his free time, he enjoys playing soccer with friends and listening to instrumental music.