Regional Science Olympiad at Rock Valley March 16

Online Staff Report

Hundreds of area students will test their wits and creativity Saturday, March 16, when they compete in the Northern Illinois Regional Science Olympiad at Rock Valley College (RVC). The event will take place from 8 a.m. to 4:30 p.m. on the RVC main campus, 3301 N. Mulford Road, with an awards ceremony at the end of the competition.

Organized to get students excited about science and raise the bar of science education in the U.S., the Olympiad is held in all 50 states and Canada. The hands-on event for high school and middle school students covers all areas of science, including biology, chemistry, physics, earth science and engineering. Testing will include everything from building rubber band-powered helicopters and bottle rocket missiles, to working hands-on with various data collecting lab instrumentation and then use that data to analyze various science-related problems.

The top students in each event will receive medals, while teams will earn an overall score. The top six high school teams and top four middle school teams will advance to the state tournament at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign Saturday, April 20.

The following schools are scheduled to compete in this year’s Science Olympiad: Durand Junior High School, McCracken Middle School, Rockford Christian Middle School, Roscoe Middle School, Stephen Mack Middle School, Harlem Middle School, Rockford Eisenhower Middle School, Hawthorn North Middle School, Westminster Christian Middle School, Belvidere High School, Belvidere North High School, Rockford Boylan Catholic High School, Durand High School, Machesney Park Harlem High School, Rockton Hononegah High School, North Boone High School, Rockford Auburn High School, Rockford Christian High School, Westminster Christian High School, Woodstock North High School, H.D. Jacobs High School and Rockford East High School.

For more information, call Evan McHugh, Ph.D., RVC director of science, at (815) 921-3488.

Posted March 14, 2013