2024 Science Olympiad Champs Heading to NorCal State Finals
Last Saturday, teams from CVHS, Canyon, and Creekside competed in the annual Bay Area Regional Science Olympiad Tournament against over 80 other teams at Cal State East Bay. They came away Champions, with all 3 Castro Valley schools advancing to the NorCal State Finals to compete for the right to go to Nationals. NorCal is traditionally one of the most competitive states in the country, and the 3 schools in particular will face fierce competition in Turlock on April 20.
Regionally, CVHS’s 4 teams finished a very dominant 1st, 2nd, 12th, and 13th overall with 50 individual event medals. In the middle school division, Creekside’s 2 teams finished 1st and 12th overall with 23 event medals, and Canyon finished 3rd and 6th with 22 event medals. These results topped off an impressive season in which the 8 teams at the 3 schools garnered 212 collective medals across 8 different competitions.
Castro Valley teams were once again very strong in the build events, where they built robots to navigate mazes, vehicles powered by springs or gravity, projectile launchers, ultralight airplanes and towers, roller coasters, salinity detectors, and wind turbines. Beyond the builds, teams also have become strong competitors in study and lab events, for a total of 23 events in each division spanning science, technology, engineering, and math.
“Without the support of our school district and our super-dedicated parent coaches, the team would not be this successful,” said CV Science President and Founder Garland Dughi. “Science Olympiad is more than a competition, it’s the intentional building of a community of learners and science leaders. Our teams spend countless hours building and studying while juggling a full academic load, sports and other clubs. But they’re here because of their curiosity and desire to learn.”
These students will also host an Elementary School Science Olympiad competition aimed at 4th and 5th graders on March 16th at Canyon. For more information, visit cvscience.us.