UNCA Hosts Science Olympiad Tournament

Young scientists from 11 middle schools and seven high schools in Western North Carolina will test their talents in the third annual regional Science Olympiad Tournament at UNC Asheville Saturday, Feb. 15. The competition will be held from 8 a.m.-5 p.m. at various locations across campus.

Each school can field a team of 15 students in 23 middle school events or 21 high school events, ranging from bottle rockets and robots to meteorology and fossils. Among the day's highlights will be the egg drop, where students will build and test containers designed to protect eggs in a free fall, and the "Mission Possible" competition, where students will test their Rube Goldberg-inspired inventions.

Competing Buncombe County schools are A.C. Reynolds Middle School and High School, Carolina Day School, Charles D. Owen Middle School and High School, Clyde A. Erwin Middle School, North Buncombe Middle School and Windy Ridge Middle School. Rutherford County teams will represent Chase Middle School and R-S Middle School. Competing Mitchell County schools are Harris Middle School and Mitchell High School. Polk County will send teams from Polk Central Middle School, Tryon Middle School and Polk County High School. Waynesville Middle School, East Henderson High School, and Smoky Mountain High School will also compete.

The winners of the regional tournament will move on to the statewide tournament later this year.

The Olympiad will be staffed by a number of volunteers, including 75 UNCA faculty, staff and students, as well as volunteers from the Health Adventure, the Colburn Gem and Mineral Museum, the Western North Carolina Nature Center and Sud Associates Consulting Engineers.

For more information about the Science Olympiad, call Judy Beck, UNCA Physics Department, at 828/232-5036.

Media Contacts:

• Judy Beck, UNCA Physics Department Lecturer, 828/232-5036
• Jill Yarnall, UNCA Public Information Assistant Director, 828/251-6526