Science Olympiad is a program where students compete in areas of science and get STEM honors credit. STEM honors is a program where students hear from many speakers and are offered scientific opportunities to further their studies in the STEM field. Many students who are in the STEM honors program also compete in Science Olympiad. Both programs are headed by Science teacher Wendy Blaine.
STEM Honors Director and Science Olympiad Coach Wendy Blaine said, “I think it’s great that PCA has the STEM program because the world is so focused on advancement in the science and technology areas.” STEM honors provides a way for students to be involved. Students have to take two STEM classes before they graduate. The students do many projects in that class like building and testing a bridge and a solar bot.
Sophomore Araila Host said, “I love to explore the world around me while I get to form great friendships with like minded people,” about the STEM program and Science Olympiad. Her favorite thing about Science Olympiad is the events that she competes in and the fact that students get to travel to compete. Araila said, “I love competing in the building events because it deepens my understanding in engineering.” Another Science Olympiad competitor Freshman Haley Thornton said, “I love ping pong parachute because it gives me new and innovative ways to build things.” The Science Olympiad team gets to travel to many different places like Rice University and UT Austin which creates the fun aspect of it.
The Science Olympiad teams are comprised of 15 people from different grades at PCA. This year, Science Olympiad has three teams. In each event you get a partner and there are three types of events. There are building events, lab events, and testing events. In the testing events students can sometimes take notes or a whole binder to help with the test that students make themselves. Some of the events this year are Cell Biology, Ping Pong Parachute, Trajectory, Chem Lab, Forensics to name a few. Science Olympiad and the STEM honors program are great programs to further your knowledge in science.
