CSU-Pueblo hosts 900+ students for Science Olympiad on March 4

PUEBLO – On March 4, Colorado State University-Pueblo will host more than 900 students from across Colorado and approximately 150 students, faculty, staff, and community professionals in a science competition featuring 35 separate categories from forensics and robotics to flight.

According to contest organizer Abby Davidson, director of the Colorado Southern Regional Science Olympiad, 60 teams of up to 15 student competitors from middle schools and high schools throughout Colorado will take part in the Southern Regional Science Olympiad from 8 a.m. to 3 p.m. on Saturday, March 4 with winners advancing to the state competition at Colorado School of Mines in April. An awards ceremony will follow the competition (4-5:30 p.m.) at Pueblo Centennial High School.  Winners of the state competition will move on to the national competition in Dayton, Ohio in May.

While the majority of teams competing will be from out of town, Pueblo will be represented by teams from Centennial High School and Roncalli Middle School and Corwin International Magnet School.

Davidson has been working to gather approximately 150 volunteers to coordinate the 35 different competitions that include everything from lab-based forensics events and robot testing to flight events like air gliders, hovercrafts, and helicopters. The scrambler event involves attaching a raw egg to the front of a mechanical device and attempting to stop it the closest to a wall without breaking the egg. Numerous community and state governmental agencies will send volunteers, including the Pueblo City County Health Department, the National Weather Service, TTCI, Vestas, UTC Aerospace, United States Geological Survey, and the U.S. Air Force Academy. Nearly 100 upper division CSU-Pueblo students and their faculty will serve as judges for the various events as well.

All of the events focus on STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics) content-based competitions, which is how Davidson came to lead the effort. She also serves as the Science Learning Center Director for the new Communities to Build Active STEM Engagement (CBASE) grant, which aims to increase the number of Hispanic and other low-income students earning degrees in STEM fields through development of new curriculum, centers for learning and engagement, and a model transfer and articulation agreement.