NEWS

Louisiana Tech hosted the Science Olympiad Invitational on Jan. 21 for students in grades 6-12 from Arkansas, Louisiana, and Texas. This year, a team from Florida brought a plane full of participants.

“I like to involve our students, particularly UTeachTech students and Science Olympiad alumni, so they can gain valuable hands-on experience by creating exams or labs, prepping events, and interacting with middle and high school students,” said Christopher Campbell, invitational director and UTeachTech Master Teacher.

Akin to an academic track meet, Science Olympiad focuses on genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology.

“My takeaway from competing in Science Olympiad, besides the knowledge of those scientific fields, was more so the skills of quick adaptability and cooperation,” said Noah Jose, Business major and proctor for the event. “Although I am now a business student, having given up science as the pursuit of a career, I find myself applying these skills frequently. Even for kids who decide to not pursue science, the skills retained from competing in Science Olympiad can be applied to any field.”

As one of the largest STEM competitions in the country, this was a great opportunity to showcase the university. More than 200 individuals were impacted by the event including AEP students that placed in the competition as well.

“Being a student who is intreated and curious about STEM, Science Olympiad was a great opportunity to learn more about STEM apart from the high school science classes,” said Hojun Lee, Engineering major and proctor for the event. “As an engineering major, this skill that Science Olympiad taught me is helping me throughout my classes and also helping me with personal or school-related engineering projects.”

Students must be able to retain information of, on average, two or three specialized science subjects of high school and college level knowledge including engineering challenges as well. The purpose of this event is to have a hands-on learning experience that helps students, teachers, parents, principals, and business leaders reach a common goal.

“Our College of Education is happy to cohost the annual event and support faculty like our own Chris Campbell who makes these opportunities available in our region,” said Dr. Lindsey Vincent, Associate Dean for Research, Outreach, and Innovation for the College of Education.

The winner for both Science Olympiad divisions B and C was the American Heritage School from Florida.