South Texas College is pleased to host the first-ever Rio Grande Valley Regional Science Olympiad on Saturday, Mar. 31, 2007 from 8 a.m. to 6 p.m. at the college’s Pecan Campus in McAllen, TX. The Science Olympiad is a national nonprofit organization developed to improve the quality of science education, increase student interest in science, and provide recognition of outstanding achievement in science education by both students and teachers. All of this is done through interscholastic competitions where students in sixth through twelfth grades can participate at the regional, state and national levels against teams from all 50 states.

The competition promotes increased knowledge and skills contained in the state TAKS examinations and schools participating are expected to improve their scores on these examinations. In addition, participation in the Olympiad has been shown to increase the number of students who subsequently enter the sciences, which is of great benefit to the community.

“We are so excited to play host to this wonderful event that will bring together school children from across the Rio Grande Valley,” said Dr. John Winfrey, Physical Science instructor at STC and one of the organizers of the event. “This is a great triumph for Valley students because prior to this year the regional competition (in which you must compete in to qualify for the state competition) required travel out of the area and a great expense for our schools. Most of our schools could not afford to compete and were disenfranchised from competition economically. Now, the regional qualifying can occur locally in McAllen at STC and offer our students a fair opportunity with other regions in the State.”

The event is open to teams of students from any school district in Hidalgo, Starr and Cameron Counties, as well as districts from other counties interested in participating. Students may compete in the sixth to eight grade level or the ninth to twelfth grade level. Teams must be composed of 15 student members, with one teacher or parent as a coach, and multiple teams can be registered from each school. There is a $180 non-refundable entry fee per team, which is used to cover the costs of the event including materials, staffing and food. For needy schools, there is provision to cover this fee.

“We have four teams currently signed up and interest from several others, but we hope that the word will spread and more teachers will sign up their students,” added Dr. Winfrey. “There are so many talented and enthusiastic young people in the area and we want them to show the community how capable they really are!”

Events for the sixth to eight grade level competition will include activities such as “Storm the Castle,” where teams will design, construct, calibrate and operate a device capable of launching a projectile as far and as accurately as possible using only the energy of a falling counterweight; “Science Crime Busters,” where students will be given a scenario and some suspects, and will be asked to perform a series of tests which will lead them into solving a crime; and “Balloon Launch Glider” in which the  objective is to construct gliders that will achieve a maximum flight time when launched from a balloon.

Events for the ninth to twelfth grade level will include activities such as “Boomilever” in which teams will design and build the lightest cantilevered wooden structure which, when attached to a vertical testing wall at one end, will support a load up to 15 Kg at the distal end; “Chemical Lab,” where teams will be asked to answer a series of questions or complete a task involving the science processes of chemistry focused in the areas of nuclear chemistry and gas laws; and “Robot Ramble” in which the team is to design and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks on a prescribed playing field.

The deadline to register a team is Wednesday, Feb. 28, 2007. For more information about the events or to register a team, please visit http://www.southtexascollege.edu/science_olympiad/; or contact Dr. John Winfrey at 488-5831 or jwinfrey@southtexascollege.edu; or contact Dr. Ludivina Avila at 872-3511 or aludy@southtexascollege.edu.

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