For the second straight year, a pair of Orange County schools will represent California at the Science Olympiad National Tournament.
Troy High in the Fullerton Joint Union High School District repeated as champs of the high school division at the Southern California State Science Olympiad Tournament, which was held April 6 at the California Institute of Technology in Pasadena, and Kraemer Middle School in the Placentia-Yorba Linda Unified School District earned top honors in its division.
Next comes the national showdown at Cornell University in New York on May 31 and June 1.
“I am extremely proud of the students on our Science Olympiad team,” Kraemer Principal Keith Carmona said. “Their level of perseverance and diligence in working towards this is unparalleled.”
Science Olympiads are like academic track meets, presenting a series of 23 STEM-related team events covering various disciplines including earth science, chemistry, genetics, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology. Teams compete in middle and high school divisions.
Some events challenge students to learn content and demonstrate it through traditional tests. Others ask students to design and build objects — like hovercrafts or towers — that are tested on the day of competition. Above all, individual achievements take a backseat to team success.
OCDE organizes and runs the regional program, which advances teams to the state tournament. From there, only one team per division qualifies for the national tournament.
For more information on Science Olympiad programs, visit www.soinc.org.