The Tulare County Office of Education hosts full in person Science Olympiad, sends eight teams from Tulare, Visalia, Hanford, Exeter to compete at the state level
TULARE COUNTY – After a year of getting back to full in person events, the Tulare County Office of Education hosted their annual Science Olympiad with a larger turnout than last year.
On Feb. 25, students from around the county put on their white coats and were scientists for an afternoon at Tulare County Office of Education’s annual Science Olympiad competition. Since the pandemic, this was the olympiads first year held fully in person. This year there was a change in location, instead of gathering in Tulare as they have in the past, students from 21 schools gathered at Ridgeview Middle School in Visalia. Students competed in a variety of different competitions resulting in four teams from each division moving on to the NorCal state competition in April.
“It went great this year, we were able to run all of the events and we had more teams compete this year than we did last year, despite the rain,” Paula Terrill, TCOE event coordinator, said. “And we’re hoping that that number grows back up to at least where we were before the pandemic, but we’re slowly getting back into it.”
The 21 schools competed in two divisions, division B was middle school and division C was high school students. The competitions ranged from testing handmade musical instruments and flying rubber band-powered airplanes to written tests about astronomy, cell biology and rocks and minerals. Topics also covered earth science, chemistry, physics and technology with an overall balance between science facts, processes, skills and applications.
“We were happy to host the entire competition in person this year,” Tim Hire, Tulare County Superintendent of Schools said in a statement. “We greatly appreciate Visalia Unified School District for allowing us to utilize their beautiful Ridgeview Middle School campus.”
The olympiad was able to run all 23 events in each division this year totalling 46 overall. Because the event had been held virtually in some way for the past few years, they were not able to host some of the categories that were more hands-on. Terrill said this move back to normal was exciting for everyone.
“During the pandemic, there are certain events that we couldn’t run, because they’re very hands-on build events. And that doesn’t lend to a virtual competition, which we had to do,” Terrill said. “So this year, because we were fully in person, and back on campus, we were able to run all 23 events in each division.”
Each olympiad team can have up to 15 students. They compete and are scored on all 23 events in their division. The points received in the individual competitions are then tallied to determine the top four teams that would advance. The high school teams advancing to NorCal include Tulare Union High School Team 41, Exeter Union High School Team 51, University Preparatory High School Team 42 in Visalia and Redwood High School Team 48.
Each olympiad team can have up to 15 students. They compete and are scored on all 23 events in their division. The points received in the individual competitions are then tallied to determine the top four teams that would advance. The high school teams advancing to NorCal include Tulare Union High School Team 41, Exeter Union High School Team 51, University Preparatory High School Team 42 in Visalia and Redwood High School Team 48.
The middle school teams that qualified for the state competition include Green Acres Middle School Team 5, Ridgeview Middle School Team 3, Jefferson Academy Team 2 in Hanford and Live Oak Middle School Team 4. While Green Acres Middle School actually had a second team in the top four, rules state that schools can only send one team to the state competition. In this case, fifth-place Live Oak Middle School now has the opportunity to participate in the state competition in place of Green Acre’s second team.
On Saturday when the competition was over, students gathered in the gym to receive medals in over 20 competitions in each division. There were seven middle school teams and 14 high school teams who competed this year. Terrill said typically in years prior to the pandemic, they would have 14 teams in both divisions.
All the schools who participated include: Divisadero Middle School, Green Acres Middle School, Jefferson Academy, Live Oak Middle School, Ridgeview Middle School and Sundale Union School. The high school teams present included: Exeter Union High School, Golden West High School, Mission Oak High School, Orosi High School, Redwood High School, Tulare Union High School, Tulare Western High School and University Preparatory High School.
For a complete list of Science Olympiad Divisions B and C winners, visit tcoe.org/ScienceOlympiad. The Science Olympiad Division A competition for elementary grade teams is scheduled for Saturday, April 22 at Mission Oak High School in Tulare.
The state competition is split into two divisions due to the size of California. Students will perform the same set of competitions, just against a larger pool of school. According to Terrill, there will be around 30 teams in each division at the state level.
