The Allen County-Scottsville High School Science Olympiad team placed first last Saturday at the Madisonville Region in the Kentucky Science Olympiad competition held at the Madisonville Community College. The team will next compete in the state Science Olympiad tournament on April 22 at Western Kentucky University.
The science students from AC-SH engaged in a series of challenging events designed to test scientific knowledge and application. At the end of the day, several AC-S students placed first, second, or third in one or more categories.
First place winners and their competition area included Isabella Jones and Gabe McGuffey in Dynamic Planet, Leah Wilson, Renee Hewitt, and Felicia Hawkins in Experimental Design, Tyler Hunt and Jerica Eaton in Hydrogeology, Olivia Hawkins and Coby Bessinger in Microbe Mission, Tayte Hawkins and Chuck Boucher in Robot Arm, and Leah Wilson and Renee Hewitt in Towers.
Second place winners were Bessinger and Harris Gregory in Anatomy and Physiology, Bessinger and Hunt in Chemistry Lab, Jackson Montgomery and Ethan Miller in Electric Vehicle, Madison Whittle in Helicopters, Hewitt and Brayden Richer in Hovercraft, Colton Barton and Hunt in Game On, and Abbie Keen in Towers.
Students placing third and their competitions were Chuck Boucher and Olivia Hawkins in Astronomy, Boucher and Bailey Stamps in Ecology, Ethan Miller, Isabella Jones, and Gabe McGuffey in Experimental Design, Leah Wilson in Helicopters, Gregory and Barton in Hovercraft, Barton and Eaton in Invasive Species, Montgomery and Whittle in Remote Sensing, Montgomery and Keen in Rocks and Minerals and Stamps and Jones in Wind Power.
The nationally-acclaimed Science Olympiad program challenges science students at the high school and middle school grade levels to display their scientific knowledge in multiple areas. According to the Science Olympiad website, “what began as a grassroots assembly of science teachers is now one of the premier science competitions in the nation, providing rigorous, standards-based challenges to 7,600 teams in 50 states. The site also notes that “Science Olympiad's ever-changing line-up of events in all STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Math) disciplines exposes students to practicing scientists and career choices, and energizes classroom teachers with a dynamic content experience.”
The entire AC-SH Science Olympic team includes Colton Barton, Coby Bessinger, Chuck Boucher, Jerica Eaton, Harris Gregory, Emily Guedea, Felicia Hawkins, Olivia Hawkins, Tayte Hawkins, Renee Hewitt, Tyler Hunt, Isabella Jones, Abbie Keen, Gabe McGuffey, Ethan Miller, Jackson Montgomery, Brayden Richer, Bailey Stamps, Madison Whittle, and Leah Wilson.