Regional Science Olympiad draws big crowds, big competition

More than 1,000 middle and high school students, coaches, parents, teachers, and community volunteers attended the Oakland County Science Olympiad Regional Tournament, held at Oakland University this March.

The tournament, held in connection with Science Olympiad Tournaments across the U.S., is an academic interscholastic competition designed to bolster student interest in science and engineering.

The top middle school teams were Boulan Park in first place, Birmingham Covington in second, Larson in third place and Smith in fourth slot. The highest ranking high school teams were Troy High in first place, Detroit Country Day in second place, International Academy – East took third and International Academy – Central brought in fourth place.

Those eight winning teams will continue on to compete at the Michigan State tournament on April 30 at Michigan State University. State winners will then represent Michigan at the National Science Olympiad at the University of Wisconsin, Madison, WI, May 20-21.

Reginald McCloud, OU’s director of Pre-College programs, and Arthur Bull, Ph.D. and chair of OU’s Chemistry Department, facilitated the event, which featured 50 individual and team competitions. Students faced entertaining and thought-provoking challenges such as "Science Crime Busters," "Shock Value," "Awesome Aquifers," "Disease Detectives," Microbe Mission" and "Sumo-Bots."

For additional information about the Michigan Science Olympiad, visit michiganso.org. For additional information about the national organization, visit soinc.org.