Science Olympiad 2015
Photos by Mary Alice Murphy
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
From left, Cole Rogers and Parker McMillan, La Plata Middle School 7th-graders, compete in the Wheeled Vehicle activity as part of Science Olympiad 2015 regional competition.
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
From left, Gabriel Partido and Joshua Saari adjust their model airplane for the Wright Stuff competition.
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
Gabe Partido launches his and Joshua Saari's model airplane, seen upper center.
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
Jace Porter and Morgan Weber show off their balsa-wood bridge which they built to complete in the bridge weight-bearing capacity competition.
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
Jace Porter watches while Morgan Weber adjusts their bridge construction.
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
Jace Porter carefully puts sand into the bucket their bridge is holding up.
Regional Science Olympiad 2015
Dr. Russ Kleinman, judge for the event called Scrambler, watches as Alyssa Shanley-Lente and Lucas Garcia launch the vehicle made by Emily Stone, who was unable to attend.-?`^
At the annual regional Science Olympiad, students from 8 schools, including from Las Cruces, Hatch Valley, Deming and Silver City took part in activities from wheeled vehicles to rocket launch, from Wright Stuff (small model airplanes), and from a balsa wood bridge building competition to the Scrambler, which was a wheeled conveyance carrying an egg on the front. These active events were in the Brancheau P.E. Building gym. Other students took various tests in Harlan Hall. They ranged from entymology to geology to chemistry.
In the more active events at the gym, wheeled vehicles attempted to cross the finish line in the fastest time.
For the Wright Stuff, team members wanted to keep their model airplane in the air as long as possible, without encountering impediments such as beams and walls.
In the bridge-building competition, teams vied to see which bridge structure had the highest carrying capacity by having a bucket with sand hung from the structure. Sand was added until the bridge broke or held up.
The Scrambler team members launched a wheeled conveyance with an egg in the front. The goal was to get as close to the wall as possible without cracking the egg.
Silver High School had three teams in the event and La Plata Middle School participated with two teams. As of this posting, a grandmother of one of the competitors let the Beat know that La Plata Middle School and Silver High School will send teams to the state competition in Socorro later this month.
The list of winners will be posted when received.