Science Olympiad set March 11 at Hammond campus
Purdue University Northwest will welcome 48 middle and high school Science Olympiad teams from across Indiana to its Hammond campus on March 11 for STEM academic competitions during the Indiana Science Olympiad state finals.
This marks the first time PNW will host the state finals. The university has annually facilitated a regional competition for Northwest Indiana schools for more than two decades.
“This is really a great opportunity for PNW to show the schools in our communities the great facilities, faculty, and students that we have,” said Vanessa Quinn, associate dean in the College of Engineering and Sciences and professor of Biology. “It’s a place where we can be engaging with the community. We can reach out to the community, which is important, but we can also bring people to PNW to see the things we have available for them.”
Visiting teams compete in up to 25 different events, some in a test format and others that are hands-on. Students put their knowledge to the test in activities ranging from forensics problem-solving to bridge strength and durability. Faculty and student volunteers from several of PNW’s academic colleges also help facilitate and judge.
As a host for annual Science Olympiad events, PNW offers a chance for event participants to preview the environments where their STEM interests can take them, as well as the people they would learn from.
“I remember when the student competitors come to campus, especially the middle school kids, I have heard them say ‘this is the greatest day of my life and I get to be in college’,” said Quinn. “The competitors get to see that when you go to college you can continue doing these great events or lab projects because we have the facilities they compete in. They also see that college professors are not scary — they are really available and excited to have them here.”
Quinn also notes Science Olympiad, much like PNW’s STEM on the Road peer-to-peer outreach events, helps foster students’ contemporary interests to be involved in hands-on activities and see their research in action.
“I know some high school students are worried they are going to come to college, get lectured to for eight hours a day, and just have all kinds of homework and that nobody will care about them. Our (college) students are good at communicating that that is not the case. We have students who really understand that the college experience is fundamentally different than the high school experience. Of course, there will always be lectures, but I see them talk with the high school students and show them the stuff you are doing in a club is the stuff you get to do in a college class.”
A single middle and high school winner will come out victorious in March to qualify for the national Science Olympiad finals in Wichita, Kansas.
For more information about Science Olympiad competitions at PNW, go to pnw.edu/ science-olympiad.