Students compete in the sciences

Middle school students from the Pocatello/Chubbuck area put their science skills to the test Saturday at the 9th annual Eastern Idaho Regional for the Science Olympiad.

About 40 students in teams of two or three competed in various science disciplines at Idaho State University. The challenges covered physics, entomology, engineering, and even covered science writing.

While some students built a bottle rocket to launch in the air or an apparatus to launch racquet balls into a specific spot, Kimberly Hawes decided to build a car.

“It just seemed like the perfect one,” Hawes said. “It wasn’t too hard, but not too easy.”

When the time came for the “Wheeled Vehicle” event, her car turned out fine, but she had a bag full of mixed emotions before it was her turn.

“As I’m setting it up, I’m just like, I can’t believe I’m doing this. Then when I saw it go and I saw how close it went, I was just really excited,” Hawes said.

State director Gary Carlson said the competition gives students a fun look into how achievements in sciences are made.

“It adds more breadth, more depth and gets a lot of them very excited to consider careers and to see science as a team effort,” Carlson said. “The idea of the lone scientist might be colorful, but not really accurate.”

Hawes left the competition today with more than the two medals around her neck.

“Science helps you think. This competition’s like problem solving, how do I need to design this or what do I need to fix this. So that can help you in every day life,” she said.

Hawes won bronze for the “Wheeled Vehicle” event and gold for the “Write-It-Do-It” challenge. All participants in the regional were invited to compete in the state-level Science Olympiad in Nampa on April 11.