Hawaiʻi State Science Olympiad held at Leeward Community College

Posted: Mar 9, 2011

Middle and high school students representing 22 public, private, charter and home schools from Kauaʻi, Oʻahu, Maui and Hawaiʻi Island competed in the 7th Annual Statewide Science Olympiad Tournament hosted by Leeward Community College on Saturday, March 5, 2011.

This year 48 schools in Hawai‘i participated in Science Olympiad Regional Tournaments to qualify for the statewide tournament. At the statewide tournament students competed in events covering a wide spectrum of fields related to science, technology, engineering and math, including biology, chemistry, engineering, genetics, medicine and rocketry.

This year's winning teams, Maui Preparatory Academy in Division B and Iolani School in Division C, will join over 110 other schools from across the country at the 2011 National Science Olympiad Tournament at the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Founded in 2004, the Hawaiʻi State Science Olympiad (HSSO) is a grassroots non-profit organization associated with the National Science Olympiad program. The first statewide tournament in Hawaiʻi was held in 2005 at Leeward CC. Since then, participation in the Science Olympiad program has increased dramatically to include over 450 middle and high school students throughout the state of Hawaiʻi.

Chancellor Manny Cabral states, "As a former chair of the math and sciences division at Leeward, and as a math professor for more than 30 years, I understand, appreciate and value this opportunity to engage students in a fantastic array of events guaranteed to test and inspire inquisitive minds. I applaud all team members and their teachers. It's an honor for our college to host the Science Olympiad every year since its beginning and look forward to continued growth in next year's tournaments. Congratulations to state tournament director, Bradley Ashburn, Leeward CC chemistry instructor, and HSSO state director, Franklin Allaire."