Homeschool Science Colorado, a Colorado Springs-based STEM team composed entirely of homeschool students, recently won the state’s Science Olympiad for the fourth year in a row and the fifth time in six years.

In sports parlance, the team has become a Colorado dynasty.

This year, HSC’s high school team narrowly defeated perennial rival Fossil Ridge High School to earn advancement to the national Science Olympiad at the University of Southern California.

“The competition is usually close,” said coach Cindy Puhek. “This year, we won by three points. The biggest margin we’ve won by, I think, was 12 points.”

The margins might be narrow, but when the same team consistently comes out on top, it’s not a coincidence. For comparison, during the New England Patriots’ dynastic run, they won six Super Bowls by an average of less than five points.

When HSC edged out Fort Collins-based Fossil Ridge for their first state title in 2021, they were a group of upstarts looking to prove that they could compete with teams from brick-and-mortar private and public schools. Now, they are the team everyone else is gunning for.

“Everybody’s aiming for us, and we know it,” said Puhek. “You start to feel the pressure. So part of my job as coach now is to manage expectations and pressures that come with being on top.”

Fielding a homeschooled team can be challenging because HSC doesn’t have a large student body to draw from like brick-and-mortar schools. But it had enough participants to field three teams this year. One of the middle school teams placed second in the state tournament, losing only to perennial Olympiad powerhouse Preston Middle School.

Many of the middle school kids are honing skills that will serve them well when they are old enough to join the high school team. Puhek will need them; five of her high schoolers – one-third of the team – are headed off to college.

“We’re going to miss the skills they being to the table,” she said. “But their biggest contribution might be morale.”

Co-Captain Ben Applequist, who will attend the University of Colorado, Colorado Springs in the fall, has been a team member for seven years. He started as a talented youngster who lacked focus and direction. Now, he’s an aspiring mechanical engineer.

“Before I joined the team, I didn’t really know what I wanted to do,” said Applequist, whose younger brother, Joe, is also a team member. “Now, I know that I like to build things, and that I’m good at it.”

For Applequist, Science Olympiad has allowed him to stretch his mind beyond the constraints of the classroom, shown how much fun science can be, and provided a much-needed social outlet, he said.

“I’ve won medals, and those are nice, but they’re just things that hang on my wall,” he said. “What matters most to me are the friendships I’ve built. Those are the things that last.”

The state champs are on their way to Los Angeles, where they will go up against the best young STEM minds in the country at the national Science Olympiad. Homeschool Science Colorado kids typically acquit themselves well at nationals. But Puhek believes the kids will reap benefits that outweigh any hardware they might win.

“I tell my kids, ‘Victory is the icing, but not the cake,” she said. “The ‘cake’ is the learning, the skills the kids develop, and the relationships they build. Those are the things we come away with whether we actually come out on top or not.”