Science Olympiad 2011-2012
by Laura Albers
December 31, 2011
The 2011-2012 school year for Science Olympiad has been shooting off so far! We started off the year learning about bottle rockets, which is one of the technology and engineering events. The class got a chance to work in groups to research, design and build a bottle rocket to be launched.
On Friday September 16th, 2011, during activity period at the end of the day, the students were able to launch their bottle rockets for the entire middle school. With the assistance of Troy Kolb of Capstan Ag Systems Inc., the students had to know how much water they wanted to use, measure the water, and put it into their bottle rockets to prepare to launch. Kolb assisted the students with setting up the bottle rockets on the launcher and pressurizing the rockets with air. The Science Olympiad students had a blast getting to display the results of their hard work.
The spectators seemed to enjoy themselves as well. The students enjoyed watching the Science Olympiad students launch their bottle rockets. They got the chance to see how some of the elements can affect the flight of the bottle rocket when the wind carried one of the bottle rockets to where it almost landed on the roof of the middle school.
Several students also had the opportunity to inform members of the community about Science Olympiad. On Friday October 14th, 2011, Jessie Brintnall, Jack Edwardson, Kendra Overdick, Alysun Shamburg, Bryn Swearingen, and Kyle Tollefson, and I joined the local P.E.O. chapter for their meeting. At the meeting we explained what Science Olympiad is and the goals for Science Olympiad. We discussed the different event categories include all the different types of science, technology and inquiry as well as important resource websites and upcoming tournaments for the Science Olympiad. I had the pleasure of informing the group how successful the 2010-2011 Science Olympiad team was last year by mentioning all the medals that they received and hope for just as much success with this year’s team. Each of the students, as well as me, took turns discussing each of the events and what is required to be done at competitions. Swearingen discussed Anatomy and Rocks and Minerals; Overdick provided information about Compute This, Crime Busters, and Water Quality; Brintnall talked about Disease Detectives and Reach for the Stars; Edwardson discussed Microbe Mission; Shamburg spoke about Write It Do It; Tollefson talked about Mission Possible, Optics, and Road Scholar; and Ms. Albers discussed Awesome Aquifers, Dynamic Planet, Food Science, Keep the Heat, Mousetrap Vehicle, Storm the Castle and Towers. Brintnall and Shamburg paired up to talk about Experimental Design; Edwardson and Shamburg worked together to discuss Forestry; Overdick and Shamburg spoke about Meteorology; and all the students participated in the discussion of Bottle Rockets. The Science Olympiad group even had event examples to show, such as the bottle rockets we had been building, a tower from the previous year, various rocks and minerals, and one of the experimental design experiments. We really enjoyed being able to talk to community members about what Science Olympiad is and what we do during the year.
Currently, each student is hard at work learning about and/or building devices for their specified events. The each are focusing and working on certain events: Jessie Brintnall – Anatomy, Disease Detectives, Experimental Design, Food Science, Mission Possible, and Reach for the Stars; Rhodes Brook – Bottle Rocket, Forestry, Microbe Mission, Mission Possible, and Towers; Kailey Davis – Anatomy, Crime Busters, Experimental Design, Mousetrap Vehicle, and Storm the Castle; Jack Edwardson – Bottle Rockets, Disease Detectives, Forestry, Microbe Mission, and Rocks and Minerals; Alec Elffner – Awesome Aquifers, Bottle Rockets, Mission Possible, Optics, and Road Scholar; Jessica Geiger – Compute This, Crime Busters, Dynamic Planet, Food Science, Reach for the Stars, and Water Quality; Kaleb Goertzen – Bottle Rockets, Mousetrap Vehicle, Optics, Storm the Castle, and Towers; Keenan Hinton – Keep the Heat, Mousetrap Vehicle, Optics, and Storm the Castle; Molly Kettler – Awesome Aquifers, Crime Busters, Food Science, Meteorology, and Write It Do It; Dannell Kopp – Forestry, Optics, and Reach for the Stars; Trevor Ladner – Bottle Rocket, Crime Busters, and Meteorology; Kendra Overdick – Compute This, Crime Busters, Meteorology, Optics, and Water Quality; Ethan Pierce – Awesome Aquifers, Dynamic Planet, Keep the Heat, Towers, and Water Quality; Josie Pierce – Crime Busters, Experimental Design, Storm the Castle, and Write It Do It; Jada Rosa – Anatomy, Disease Detectives, Food Science, and Mousetrap Vehicle; Alysun Shamburg – Experimental Design, Forestry, Meteorology, and Write It Do It; Ryan Shamburg – Awesome Aquifers, Keep the Heat, Storm the Castle, Towers, and Water Quality; Terrance Stroud – Bottle Rocket, Reach for the Stars, and Storm the Castle; Bryn Swearingen – Anatomy, Disease Detectives, Mission Possible, and Rocks and Minerals; and Kyle Tollefson – Keep the Heat, Mission Possible, Optics, Road Scholar, and Write It Do It.
It takes a lot of work to get ready for competitions, but each and every one of the HMS Science Olympiad students is willing to put in the work to reach their goals for this year. We are preparing for our first competition, the Kearney Invitational, at Kearney, Missouri on January 21st, 2012.
Finally, the HMS Science Olympiad is fully aware that we would not be where we are without the support from the local community and the many volunteers that help us. Words cannot convey how appreciative we are of all of your help and work. We thank each and every one of you!
