St. Joan of Arc clinched its state bid by excelling at the Regional Science Olympiad Tournament at Rock Valley College on March 12. There, the JV team won awards in 18 of the 23 events, and the Varsity won awards in 16. The Varsity team will compete at the state tournament at the University of Illinois on April 16.
Well over 100 Junior High schools across the state participate in Science Olympiad. Each tournament tests the students in 23 events spanning five scientific areas and ranging from Air Trajectory to Meteorology to Wind Power. Some of the events are traditional written tests, while others require the students to conduct an experiment or to build a device. St. Joan of Arc’s Head Coach Angie Buis credits Science Olympiad with “allowing students to be engineers, inventors, chemists and geologists. The events challenge students to think outside the box and use higher learning.”
St. Joan of Arc has competed in Science Olympiad for over ten years, advancing to the state tournament for the last five. Even more important that its success, Science Olympiad is wildly popular at St. Joan of Arc. Well over 80% of its Junior High students participate, attending before-school and after-school practices for the many months leading up to the final tournaments. Herself the Junior High science teacher, Mrs. Buis looks forward to Science Olympiad every year. “It’s great to see so many students get so excited about science.”