Science Olympiad

Science Olympiad is one of the after school clubs here at the Dayton Regional STEM School. It involves 6th through 9th graders where they compete in various events that include engineering, building, and scientific activities.

Science Olympiad is a nationwide organization for students. It is made of teams of 6th-9th graders that compete in science events. There are small competitions that determine the people that are going to be in the regional competitions. Then, there is a national competition. At the competitions, students compete in their chosen events, and then, there is a top six in each event. Events are the activities that each student chooses to participate in. Every Tuesday and Thursday students meet in their event groups with their coaches. Most of the coaches are parent volunteers, but there are parents who work in science and engineering fields and have previous experience in Science Olympiad. Many of the students are veterans and some are new.

Mollie Emerick is a 9th grader, and this is her first year in Science Olympiad. She said that she joined because she was interested in tornados and that made her want to join Meteorology. Meteorology is an event that focuses on weather patterns which is why it was one of the events she chose. She also liked that you could see people that you couldn’t talk to in class. She described it as “a classroom where we get to be more social”.

Jaiden Hogge is a 7th grade student, and this is his second year in Science Olympiad. He likes the tests and building events. He enjoys that there are engineering elements in this club because he wants to go into an engineering field in the future. They work in teams for the events which he finds interesting.

Science Olympiad ultimately encourages students to dive into many STEM fields that they might want to choose as careers while also getting to experience them in a fun learning setting.