A total of 15 middle schools and 20 high schools faced off to see whose builds worked best and who knew the most in a series of testing events.
BROADVIEW HEIGHTS, Ohio — Helicopters, hovercrafts and electric cars are just a few of the projects students built for the Northeast and Northern Regional Tournament of the Ohio Science Olympiad. Roughly 700 students put their STEM skills to the test across 23 hands-on builds and testing events at Brecksville-Broadview Heights High School.
“It’s been pretty fun. All the people are really nice; it’s a lot of hard work,” said Logan Phillips, a sophomore at Kenston High School. “Like, this past week, I’ve spent a bunch of hours fixing stuff with builds.”
For Phillips, this is his first Olympiad. He competed in four events, and says it won’t be his last.
“So then I thought that it would be good to, like, get ready for other classes or just like see what type of science is out there,” he told 3News.
Challenges are timed, meaning students have to troubleshoot problems on the fly. That pressure is especially real in the “Scrambler” event.
“Scrambler is where we have a car and then there’s dowls in the front, and we have to place an egg on the front, and basically (it) has to go as close to a wall and stop right in front of it without breaking,” explained seventh grader Jake Kausan of St. Francis Xavier in Medina.
Beyond the competition, students say Science Olympiad is also a community where teammates help each other, and co-captains Ryan Menary and Arielle Tobler of Kenston make sure everyone is prepared.
“Making sure that they have the materials, that they’re practicing, we’re really sort of like the mentors of the team making sure the younger members have someone to look up to, someone to teach them kind of how things work,” Menary said.
“We’re like the example of how much work you should be putting in, what you should be doing,” added Tobler.
For many students here, science is more than just a subject — it’s their passion, and Science Olympiad is helping prepare them for the future.
“I just think it’s really fun and a great learning experience,” said sixth grader Teresa Chodzak of St. Francis Xavier. “I just really enjoy the hands-on, like, the creativity involved. And I love the testing because you obviously get to learn new things, and it’s also (cool how) you get to brag to your friends that, ‘I know this.'”
The top-ranked schools from the regional competition move on to the state tournament in April. From there, teams can advance to nationals, which will be held in Los Angeles this year.