ROSEMEAD - The Muscatel Junior High Science Olympiad Team competed at a national science competition and finished 15th nationwide, garnering them several honors from local politicians, including the Rosemead City Council at its Tuesday night meeting. 

The team also recently picked up its sixth straight Los Angeles County championship and second straight statewide crown, much to the delight of teacher and coach Jun Lugue.

"They did pretty well," Lugue said of his team. "We met our expectations in some ways this year, but not in others. We didn't get a top 10 finish, but we got five top five event finishes."

Those top five finishers were:

Samantha Tran and Devin Luu, second place, shock value;

Kelly Luc and Jessica Tran, third place, physical science lab;

Gary Chao and Jessica Tran, third place, compute this;

Kevin Luong and Luu, fourth place, road scholar; and

Chao and Ryan Ho, fifth place, science crime busters.

Lugue said all areas - such as biology, chemistry, earth sciences and building projects - were covered in the competition. In all, he added, 23 students went to nationals in Urbana, Ill. with 15 of them competing.

In addition, Lugue said the students put a lot of hard work and energy into preparing for the competition.

"They spend countless hours after school and we have Saturday meetings all day three to four months before the competition," Lugue said. "It's every Saturday and every day after school. And they all study countless hours at home."

In all, 80 to 100 students try out to become that elite 15, Lugue said. He added he puts much extra time in himself.

"I enjoy doing it because it makes teaching fun," he said. "It's a fun way to learn and teach science."There are also six or seven teacher coaches, one parent coach and eight former team members who are now in high school or college helping out, Lugue said.

Samantha Tran, a ninth grader, said she had an excellent time in the competition.

"This was very exciting," Tran said. "It was a good chance for the team to become a very close family and we had a lot of fun together."

Seventh grader Joseph Pham agreed.

"The best thing was meeting new people, going to new places and learning new things," he said.

Add eighth grader Annie Lee: "I learned the value of hard work. It really does pay off in the end."

(Shel Segal can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots. You need JavaScript enabled to view it .)