The Cherry Hill High School East Biology Club will be participating in the USA Biology Olympiad (USABO) beginning on February 4th. This follows a one-year absence from the competition, as last year the club did not participate.
USABO is a national competition in which students compete to test their knowledge on key scientific topics pertaining to biology. The 2026 USABO National Competition will be held at Harvard University in Cambridge, Massachusetts. The 2026 USABO International Competition will take place in Vilnius, Lithuania.
“[USABO] starts with an open exam…and if you get a good score, then you can get a distinction, an honorable mention, or go to semifinals,” said Biology Club President Ronak Pathak (‘26).
Open exams are administered online, spanning three parts and lasting 120 minutes. Approximately 12,000 students register to participate annually. If a contestant reaches semifinals, they have the opportunity to make it to the final competition, and then the international competition.
The Biology Club decided not to compete last year due to conflicting opinions between club leadership. Pathak says competing this year was a personal choice. Pathak also says that many students voiced interest in participating, and new district funding allowed them to streamline the club’s operations.
Pathak emphasizes that the Biology Club’s goal is not solely to attend the international competition: “Our focus is really to interact with biology and be involved with it, to go beyond the classroom.”
The Biology Club’s goal is to make biology fun and not just a class students have to take. Pathak hopes the competition will catalyze student interest in science, especially for underclassmen, and hopes that everyone participating in USABO can find a newfound love for biology.
Pathak says that USABO provides a way for students to “go beyond the curriculum East offers and to really just explore [science] in a new way.”
