Competitors from 10 Georgia high schools gathered at Berry College on Saturday to compete in the Regional Science Olympiad Tournament, and four teams emerged victorious.
“Science Olympiad is a national organization that does regional competitions across Georgia,” said Jill Cochran, the director of teacher education at Berry College. “This is the first year Berryhosted.”
The competition included 23 events, and students competed in teams of two to three. They were tested on their knowledge in areas like forensics, entomology, chemistry and robotics.
Some events required students to study beforehand, while others required them to bring in their own creations to test against their competitors.
One of the best parts of Saturday, according to Cochran, was seeing students’ excitement when something they built worked as it was meant to.
“It was great getting to see all of their hard work pay off,” Cochran said. “I think the kids really enjoyed being on campus.”
At the end of the competition, there was an award ceremony, during which teams were given first, second, and third-place awards for each event they competed in. Almost every team left the competition with an award, but only the top four teams advanced to the state competition.
The winning teams were determined based on the total number of points they collected from each event. Westminister Schools received first place. North Gwinnett High School took secondplace. River Ridge High School ranked third, and Eagles Home Educators won fourth.
Although it was Berry College’s first year hosting the event, Cochran hopes they’ll get to host it again next year. It was hard work putting the event together, with over 85 volunteers helping and teachers from Berry College and local schools judging the competitions, Cochran said, but it was worth it.
A new science educator at Berry presented the chance to host the regional tournament. While attending a science convention, the professor was approached and asked if Berry would be interested in hosting the Science Olympiads.
When he brought the suggestion back to the college, Cochran quickly agreed, having been a Science Olympiad competitor in middle school.
If Berry does get to host next year, Cochran hopes to see students from local schools compete. All of the students at Saturday’s competition were from the Cobb County or north Atlanta area, none from Floyd County or Rome City Schools.
“It would be great to see more local schools get involved,” she said.
The winning teams from Saturday’s competition will vy in the state competition at GeorgiaTech at the end of March.
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Written by Northwest Georgia News Rachel Hartdegen
