PATTON, Mo. -- Twelve junior high and high school teams at brought their technical know-how to bear at the Science Olympiad held Saturday at Meadow Heights High School. Besides trophies, teams were competing for eight spots at the state-level event in Columbia on April 23.
The catapult competition, one of 27 events, required counterweights of between one and three kilograms, the ability to throw a mass of 20 to 60 grams and guess how far it would fly. Scores were based on how close the team came to their hypothesis.
Josh Wen, 12, a student at Central Junior High School in Cape Girardeau, said that he and his catapult partner, Michael Crow, developed a working relationship drawing on each other's strengths.
"I'm a city person. I'm more logical," he said. "A lot of my knowledge came from books. Michael knew more about putting the catapult together."
And they had some expert advice.
"Our industrial tech teacher helped us a lot," said Michael, 14. "We asked him a bunch of questions. We measured and brought some supplies from home. He helped us with power tools."
Central Junior High School science teachers Nancy Bone and Pam Strom entered a team this year for the first time. Both teachers support the event's test of critical thinking in the moment.
Bone, who's done the school science fair for years, said, "I got to thinking and feeling that since so much is available on the Internet for kid's science fair projects, it's not authentic."
In the olympiad, students are challenged on the spot and must work out the kinks because they are vying against projects similar to their own.
"This is a true test of their ability," Strom said. "Unlike science fair projects, the olympiad is about what's happening at that moment."
Melody Green, Oran High School science teacher and regional coordinator of the olympiad, said 105 students were entered, up from last year's 74.
Some of the students new to the event were an Oran High School team of catapult builders, Josh Glueck, 18, Kody Campbell, 15, and Wes Pin, 17. They admitted that part of their motivation was the extra credit. They'd never entered the competition before but decided to give it a try.
While most teams spent about 20 hours on their projects, the Oran students spent five and a half hours on theirs. But they were still pleased with the result.
"I'm a senior this year, but I'll come back to watch next year," Glueck said. "It was pretty fun. It went a whole lot better than we expected."
Campbell added, "Yeah, and you didn't have to study for it."
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Olympiad winners
These teams placed at the Science Olympiad on Saturday and will go to the state event in April.
Junior high
1. East Prairie
2. Meadow Heights
3. Koshkonong
4. Central Junior High School
High school
1. Fredericktown
2. New Madrid
3. Koshkonong
4. Scott City
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