O’Neal Takes Regional Title for Science Olympiad

O’Neal’s Middle School Science Olympiad Team dominated at the regional competition with nine other area middle schools at St. Andrews University in Laurinburg on Saturday, February 21st, scoring 1st place overall. Only the second time in full effort competition, the team learned what they had to do to take the lead and worked very hard to meet the goal. The varsity section medaled in 15 of the 23 events and ten of them were for 1st place. The junior varsity team also returned with three 1st place and two 2nd place medals. In a very good position, the team is excited to compete in the state Science Olympiad competition at NC State University in April 25th and 26th.

Events are STEM related activities ranging from competing with pre-built items, like the Elastic Launched Glider, to interactive activities using provided materials, like Experimental Design, to tests of scientific knowledge like Meteorology.

Varsity Team Results:
Air Trajectory - 1st - Hudson Hayes, Michael Douglas / Bottle Rocket - 1st- Will Keller, Evan Jones / Disease Detective - 3rd - Bray Woodard, James Taylor / Elastic Launch Glider - 1st - Reed Taws, Isabella Johannes / It Matters - 1st - Zach Furie, Evan Jones / Anatomy - 1st - James Taylor, Sarah Elmore / Dynamic Planet - 2nd - Evan Jones, Kyel Hudson / Picture This - 1st - Isabella King, Bray Woodard / Bridge Building - 3rd - Nicholas Stewart, Kyel Hudson / Crave The Wave - 2nd - Will Keller, Zoey Furie / Crime Busters - 1st - Nathan Swartz, James Taylor / Green Generation - 1st - Zach Furie, Evan Jones / Entomology - 2nd - Nathan Swartz, Will Keller / Road Scholar - 1st - Sydney Maynor, Nicholas Stewart / Wheeled Vehicle - 1st - James Taylor, Sarah Elmore

JV Team Results:
Disease Detectives – 1st – Sophia Taylor, Ben Martin / It Matters – 2nd – Matthew Ryals / Anatomy – 2nd – Jamie Wenzel, Max Mixa / Picture This – 1st - Ben Martin, Sophia Taylor / Bridge Building – 1st - Alexandra King, Kaleigh O’Leary
On a side note, O’Neal was fortunate to have a JV team 2 made up of eighth grade students visiting from Saint Michel Middle School in Bourgoin-Jallieu, France for 10 days. The French dialogue that was heard with the team in competition intrigued students in all of the participating schools. “The idea of a Science/Foreign Language collaboration was brought about by what happens in Texas each year when a team from Tlalnepantla, Mexico, is invited to the Texas State Tournament at Texas A&M,” states O’Neal Team Advisor Boyd Grayson. Plans are in the works for O’Neal to host an Invitational Tournament during the 2015-2016 school year.

His second year teaching middle school science at O’Neal, Boyd Grayson came from Dallas, Texas, having last taught at Greenhill School for 12 years. During his time at Greenhill, he served for many years as national event supervisor for Science Olympiad. He was appointed to the National Earth Science Rules Committee by the President of Science Olympiad. Boyd created and directed a Science Olympiad Invitational Tournament involving schools not only from Texas but also Kansas, Nebraska, Louisiana, New Mexico and Alabama. This tournament received national recognition. Plans are in the works for O’Neal to host an Invitational Tournament during the 2015-2016 school year.

“The O’Neal School’s administration and parents have been incredibly supportive of the Science Olympiad Program”, says Grayson. “Science Olympiad is a nationally recognized extension of the STEM (Science Technology Engineering and Mathematics) approach to the teaching of science. Science Olympiad also teaches students the importance of character, commitment and teamwork.”

Cited from a release from St. Andrews University --- The first recorded Science Olympiad was held 41 years ago at St. Andrews. Dr. Donald Barnes and Dr. David Wetmore were the originators of this event. Fifteen schools from North and South Carolina and Virginia participated in this event. This Olympiad was a daylong event, with competitions and demonstrations for high school students in the areas of biology, chemistry, and physics. There were four event periods during this day, and each event period had one fun event (like beaker race or paper airplane), one demonstration (like glassblowing and holography), and one serious event (like periodic table quiz or Science Bowl). An article by Wetmore was published in the Journal of Chemical Education in January of 1978 documenting the success of recruiting students through Science Olympiad. Education leaders who observed the Olympiad took the concept to the national level in 1985. Today, 7000 teams in 30 states compete in Science Olympiads---

The Science Olympiad Tournament Goals stated from the national website (www.soinc.org) are as follows:
• To bring science to life, to show how science works, to emphasize problem solving aspects of science and the understanding of science concepts.
• To develop teamwork and cooperative learning strategies among students.
• To make science education more exciting so more students will enroll in science courses and engage in other science activities like science reading, fairs, meetings and field trips.
• To promote high levels of achievement and a commitment to excellence, to demonstrate that American students can perform at levels that surpasses expectations of even practicing scientists and engineers.
• To attract more students particularly females and minorities to professional and technical careers in science, technology and science teaching.