Each year, students from elementary, middle and high schools across

Southern California gather at Occidental College to participate in the annual Los Angeles County Science Olympiad. Participants spend months preparing for challenges in a variety of scientific disciplines ranging from anatomy to geography, from criminology to marine biology. Each of the competing schools send 15 students to take part in the tournament and compete in 23 events. Though only 15 students participate in the final competition day, the team is supported by an armada of peers working behind the scenes to help team members prepare for their tests, build racers and practice for challenges.

Last year, La Cañada Middle School participated in Division B. This season began with regular Wednesday meetings when members of the Science Olympiad gathered in teacher Christine Werner’s classroom to work on their designated projects. One of these was Mission Possible.

Members of this project were instructed to think about how to make a device that is composed of simple machines that can complete a task; this year the task consisted of raising a flag.

Another project was designed by the Hovercraft team, led by Bradley Kern and Brian Chung, designed a vehicle that hovered above the ground by using a cushion of air pushing against the ground. They scored third place in this event category.

The Wright Stuff team, comprised of Aditya Sehgal, Ahan Kadam, Noah George, Iris Epstein and MacKenzie Kwan, had to design two planes that were inspired by the first working plane built by the Wright Brothers. The team won fourth place.

Amelia Seropian and Ean Jeffries, working on the Road Scholar, used maps to interpret collected data. Jordan Lay, Artis Phillips and Yasmine Kaki, worked on the Microbe Mission, researching and preparing a Powerpoint highlighting the name, symptoms and characteristics of different viruses, fungi and other nasties. Jordan and Artis placed fifth in the competition.

In total, this year’s teams competed in 23 events.

On the competition day, March 4, teams from 40 different schools gathered at Occidental College. Participating students, with their coaches and

accompanying parents, were running in and out of their home bases, all of them heading to different events scattered around the college. Other students were studying for their tests.

La Cañada Middle School students managed to medal in 11 out of 23 of the events and finished ninth overall – just two places from advancing to the state level competition.

Science Olympiad provides an opportunity to practice science outside of

the classroom and instills the love of the subject in a competitive yet healthy learning environment. The founders of the Science Olympiad want to engage elementary, middle and high school students through science exploration and innovation. This experience also allowed students work as a team.

Submitted by Yasmine KAKI