If only there was some great article with helpful descriptions of high school competitions that help students develop skills and build a resume… Luckily, all sorts of subjects—including math, history, science and literature—offer countless competitions brimming with opportunities for students to explore their passions, develop their skills, build a resume, and so much more.
North High offers clubs that compete in various high school competitions, such as History Club, Science Olympiad and even DECA. For those looking to achieve excellence beyond North High or for club members wanting more information about the competitions they attend, this article provides the perfect insights.
Math
First up, (almost) everyone’s favorite subject: math. Nationally, the American Mathematics Competitions (AMC) are the largest series of high school competitions within the United States. With a wide variety of competitions for students to choose from, these competitions are probably the most prestigious competitions to attend—even more so to win awards.
Most students are presumptively looking for more obscure competitions such as the Interscholastic Mathematics League (IML), which offers contests for both Nassau County and New York City residents.
“I joined the math team because math is something I personally enjoy and wanted to push myself to improve in mathematics,”said junior Maggie Xiao, an officer of the Math Team at North High. “We practice a variety of problem-solving strategies, work together to prepare for competitions, and explore advanced concepts that aren’t typically covered in regular math classes.”
The Nassau County Interscholastic Mathematics League (NCIML) consists of six math contests, each of which are categorized as either individual or team and calculator or non-calculator events. These versatile contests make it a great choice for students of different skills or interests within the field of mathematics.
Another option for high schoolers in New York is the Trinity School’s TrinMac Virtual competition in spring. This contest requires teams of six students who work through four rounds: Team, Individual, Relay, and Speed. These rounds cover a range of topics, including algebra, number theory, combinatorics, and geometry.
HistoryOne of the most prominent history competitions is National History Day (NHD), a nonprofit education organization dedicated to helping students from grades 6-12 learn more about history. Its annual international student history contest involves students choosing a topic and creating a project to compete at different levels and present to numerous judges.
Tamas Smulovics, one of the founders of the History Club, created the club so everyone could get a chance to experience what history has to offer: “[History Club] is a place for everyone. We were successful last year because of how close we have grown with each other through the club and because of our ability to work together to fight against huge challenges.”
For Long Island residents, the Long Island Regional Contest (LIRC) at Hofstra University offers the NHD contest to middle and high school students. Students are provided with a historical theme from which they have their own freedom to choose any type of project to make in accordance with the theme.
Projects may vary from documentaries, performances, exhibits, websites, paper projects, or whatever else students may come up with and enjoy creating. With only a few simple guidelines required for students to follow, this contest encourages students to use their creativity to demonstrate their knowledge on any topic from history that may fit the theme.
Another important history competition is the history bowl, a timed event where participants must answer history-related questions under pressure.
History Club officers Adam Smulovics and Logan Ye attended one such competition at the International Geography Bowl (IGB) in Vienna over the summer as delegates of New York State. They went on to place fourth as a team and won numerous individual medals.
“I believe that a lot of our success can be attributed to our studying and preparation beforehand, but I think we may have spent too much time with names of geographic features as opposed to geographic concepts,” said senior Logan Ye. “Of course, none of this would have been possible without History Club, as it gave [Adam and I] experience with buzzer-based competitions and introduced us to the International Geography Championships in the first place.”
Science
In terms of science fairs, North High’s Science Research classes attend many different science fairs in Spring, including Long Island Science Congress (LISC), Wac Lightning, South Asian American Women’s Alliance (SAAWA), and the International Science and Engineering Fair (ISEF).
At these competitions, students who have worked on projects during the school year or over the summer are given the chance to present their projects and findings to judges. Typically consisting of a series of rounds, students rotate through judges, describing their projects in depth to each judge.
“The Science Olympiad is a team-based competition and a club at [North High], so competing is the only culminating experience of the club as a whole,” said junior Dale Yang, an officer of the Science Olympiad Club. “The club is more about the experience of preparing for the competitions, and I like it specifically because it allows me to spend time with other people as passionate about science as I am.”
For science quiz bowls, the National Science Bowl (NSB) is a national competition offered to high school students on scientific topics in astronomy, biology, chemistry, mathematics, physics, earth, computer, and general science.
“Science is a way to learn how the world works. Scientific knowledge is a prerequisite to the development of technologies,” said Dr. Stephen Z. Goldberg, Professor Emeritus of Adelphi University, American Chemical Society (ACS) member, and coordinator of the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNSCO) for the New York Academy of Sciences (NYACS). “Although not everyone needs to know a lot of science, a basic understanding of the scientific method and how to interpret scientific results are important parts of being an educated citizen.”
Yang was also one of few New York representatives at the National Chemistry Olympiad in May, taking an extensive multi-part exam and placing on the High Honors and Honors List, solidifying his spot as one of the top chemistry students in the nation.
“I had to spend lots of time studying chemistry beyond the AP level, and it really gave me an opportunity to learn advanced chemistry and explore my interest,” said Yang.
The 2025 Long Island Regional Competition is hosted by Brookhaven National Laboratory, with the winning team being sent to Washington D.C. to compete at the National Competition. Each team consists of five members, and the competition itself starts with a round-robin followed by a double-elimination final. Questions are asked in the form of both multiple-choice and short answer in the categories listed above.
Literature
The most popular writing competition is probably The New York Times’ competitions, which offer multiple different contests for writers of any interest. This year, The New York Times has introduced two new contests—an Election 2024 Student Conversation Forum and a Coming of Age Multimedia Contest.
For the student conversation forum, five different forums are addressed, each with a question that the student must answer within 1500 words. Students can choose which forums to discuss, ranging from one to all.
Branching off from this event, the coming-of-age multimedia contest allows students to create virtually whatever digital response they would like to any of the forums posted. This could either be a poem, podcast, essay, infographic, photograph, or anything else that can be submitted online.
In addition to these contests, many more are posted on The New York Times website and can be seen at 2024-2025 NYT Contests. Other contests may vary from poems, personal narratives, memoirs, short essays, or other genres of writing.
Ultimately, competitions like these can help students advance their passion for certain subjects while adding to their resumes. These competitions also serve as opportunities to explore new interests and meet new people, so don’t let the fear of losing deter participation!
