To see a video of this year's event, please click here.
Last year, students at Dormont Elementary learned just how much fun they could have with science during the school's first ever Science Olympiad. This year the school kicked things up a notch through a series of experiments and demonstrations that left the students in awe about science and its seemingly infinite possibilities.
The school’s second annual Science Olympiad, a day of science-based activities that challenged students both physically and mentally, was held Monday with the entire school participating in the daylong event.
The Science Olympiad is an elementary, middle, or high school competition which promotes knowledge of various science topics. Over 15,000 schools in 48 states compete each year. The goals of the Olympiad are to improve the quality of science education, create a passion for learning science, and provide recognition for outstanding achievements and performance for the students. These goals were achieved by staging a competitive event in which teams of students engaged in 18 different interesting, hands-on experience.
Aiken Elementary has hosted its own Science Olympiad for the past three years and MyrtleElementary School will hold its first such event next spring, making it a district-wide event.
Students from science classes at KeystoneOaksHigh School, former Keystone Oaks teachers and parents again volunteered to help with the event which was organized by fifth-grade teacher Lori DeMartino and third-grade teacher Kim Puffer. DeMartino and Puffer even lined up sponsors and partners like the McCormick-Dorman VFW Post #694, Michael Baker Corporation, National Energy Technology Laboratory and No. 1 Cochran Automotive among others.
According to DeMartino, the results of the day made all of the hard work pay off.
"It is so rewarding as an educator to see our students so engaged in the process and having so much fun along the way that they almost forget how much they're learning along the way," she said.
"Events like these are what teaching is all about and I could not be more proud of our students and how they have embraced this event," said DeMartino. "Also, I couldn't be more appreciative of our staff or our partners for helping to make it all possible."