DALLAS, Pa. — Penn State Wilkes-Barre hosted hundreds of middle and high school students from across the region for an annual science competition on March 8.
The Northeast Regional Science Olympiad tournament brought together more than 800 students from 27 high schools and 15 middle schools in northeast Pennsylvania to compete in a one-day interscholastic competition. The event has been held at Penn State Wilkes-Barre for over two decades.
Science Olympiad is an international non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of science education, increasing student interest in science, and recognizing outstanding achievement in the science education by students and teachers. Students compete in intramural, district, state, and national tournaments during their time at the Science Olympiad. Teams of 15 students are challenged through STEM-related events that span biology, earth sciences, chemistry, physics, engineering, and research. Students typically work in pairs to build devices to be tested in tournaments, study for basic knowledge challenges, and prepare for rigorous hands-on lab experiments. Tournament challenges and activities help prepare them to work as a team in a future STEM career.
The Northeast Regional Science Olympiad tournament featured a total of 46 events (23 for middle school and 23 for high school) spanning various science disciplines. Interactive events also took up much of the day, with competitive activities such as “Storm the Castle”, where teams of students built mechanical devices to launch objects over a wall, and “Wheeled Vehicle”. , in which the students built a vehicle that was to travel. a specified distance and cross obstacles with precision and accuracy.
“We look forward to hosting the Science Olympiad every year,” said Timothy Sichler, assistant professor of electrical engineering education at Penn State Wilkes-Barre and coordinator of the Northeast Regional Science Olympiad tournament on campus. “It’s amazing to see the number of students in our region who are interested in STEAM and related career paths. We’ve seen former Science Olympiad competitors become medical professionals, engineers, and more. Some of them first sparked their interest in science through their participation in the tournament here at Penn State Wilkes-Barre.
The day ended with awards and closing ceremonies at the Penn State Wilkes-Barre Sports and Recreation Building. Chris Bohinski of Pa Live! hosted the awards ceremony for the second year. The top performing teams from the local tournament have been invited to compete in the state tournament to be held at Penn State Altoona on April 22. In the high school division, those teams were Athens Area High School, first place; North Pocono High School, second place; Dallas High School, third place; Stroudsburg High School, fourth place; Pocono Mountain East High School, fifth place; and Wallenpaupack Area High School, sixth place. In the middle school division, these schools were Harlan Rowe Middle School, first place; North Pocono Junior High School, second place; Abington Heights Middle School, third place; Wayne Highlands Middle School, fourth place; Wyalusing Valley Junior/Senior High School, fifth place; Pocono Mountain East Junior High School, sixth place; Lake-Lehman Junior/Senior High School, seventh place; and Wilkes-Barre Academy, eighth place.
Event sponsors were Gosh Yarn It, C&G Tutoring and Mark J. Sobeck Roof Consulting Inc.
