All CV Schools Qualify for Science Olympiad State Final
CVHS, Canyon and Creekside made history last week at the Bay Area Regional Science Olympiad competition when all 3 schools finished in the top 5 to qualify for the state competition. This is Creekside’s 4th state berth since it started competing in 2014, the 2nd for Canyon, but the first time for CVHS. All 3 schools achieved their best placing yet, with Creekside winning the overall middle school division, and Canyon earning 3rd place. CVHS finished 3rd in the high school division. The 120 students in 8 teams across all 3 schools earned 99 medals in 23 events.
The competition includes study and lab events which require students to learn deep subjects such as anatomy or forensics. Other events require students to design, build and test devices such as bridges, projectile launchers, ultralight rubber-band-powered airplanes, mousetrap-powered cars, WiFi antennas, timekeeping devices, or musical instruments. Castro Valley does well in these build events, including bridges with a clean sweep at the high school level (1st, 2nd, 3rd, 4th) and 1st, 2nd and 5th for middle school. Students must design the lightest possible structure to hold 15kg of sand. The highest ratio of load divided by bridge weight wins. The design requires many calculations, while the build requires extraordinary craftsmanship; the result is a combination of engineering and art.
Science Olympiad competitions provide open-ended, real-world problems in which there are multiple good solutions and provide the opportunity for students to learn to collaborate in small teams. The competition also provides leadership opportunities at the high school level for those who coordinate teams, coach middle schoolers and organize activities for elementary students.
Science Olympiad is part of a larger organization, Castro Valley Science, which also hosts science talks for the public and scholarships for CVHS students. This year they will host a summer camp for elementary students. For more info please see cvscience.us.
