Exciting, captivating, thought-provoking – not words that are traditionally used by teachers and students to describe science education programs … at least not until they have experienced Texas Science Olympiad! On April 25/26, 2008, sixty one 15-member teams representing schools from across Texas, and special guest team High School Thomas Jefferson from Mexico, gathered on the campus of Texas A&M University in College Station to compete in the state-level science competition comprised of 28 diverse events per age division.
These events covered a gamut of topics within science and engineering, including events involving rocks/minerals, insect, and amphibianidentification; remote sensing; airplane design and flight; robotics; chemistry and physics labs; genetics; epidemiology; forensics and environmental impact. Texas Science Olympiad, a program for middle and high school students, offers something for every student – from the academically gifted ‘brainiac’ to the student that is a talented hands-on problem solver. This program also reaches segments of the population that might otherwise be left out of science education programs – one teacher shared her experience of how Science Olympiad provided for the first time a program where ESL (English as a Second Language) students and their families could participate and excel in many of the Olympiad science activities.Texas Science Olympiad, a program for middle and high school students, offers something for every student – from the academically gifted ‘brainiac’ to the student that is a talented hands-on problem solver.
C-Division (high school) winners were:
* Liberal Arts and Science Academy, LBJ High School – Austin
* William P. Clements High School — Sugarland
B-Division (middle school) winners were:
* Kelly Lane Middle School – Pflugerville
* Kealing Middle School – Austin
These 4 teams went on to represent Texas at the 2008 National Science Olympiad
held at The George Washington University, in Washington, DC. And represent us
well they did! For the first time, two of our Texas teams (Kealing and LASA) broke
into the overall Top 20, with Top 5 finishes for Kealing in the events Simple Machines,
and Bio-Process Lab, and LASA placing FIRST in Physics Lab! Way to go Texas students!!
Texas teams each received a travel award to help defray travel expenses, thanks to the
generous sponsorship of the Texas Academy of Science.
