Tuesday, March 15, 2005

March 15, 2005

Wilmington, N.C. - On Saturday, March 19, approximately 1,000 middle and high school students from New Hanover, Brunswick, Columbus, Pender and Bladen counties will compete in a variety of science-oriented competitions on the University of North Carolina Wilmington campus. The competitions will be from 9 a.m. to 3 p.m. and take place at Hanover Hall gym, and depending on the weather, outside Hoggard Hall or at Dobo Hall.

Nearly 40 areas of competition will be held, including:
• Bottle Rockets – participants design, construct and test rockets made of plastic pop bottles, which must remain aloft for a maximum period of time. (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
• Robo Billiards – teams design and build a robot capable of placing billiard balls into containers. (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
• Robot Ramble – students design and build a robot capable of performing certain tasks. (9 a.m. to 2 p.m.)
• Wright Stuff – students design and build a propeller propelled aerodynamic device for greatest time aloft. (9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.)
• Storm the Castle – teams design, construct, calibrate and operate a device capable of launching a projectile as far and as accurately as possible using only the energy of a falling counterweight. (9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m.)
• Tower Building – teams design, build and test the lightest tower to carry a maximum load. (12:30 to 3 p.m.)
• Bridge Building – given certain parameters of length, width, height, and material, each team designs, builds and tests the lightest bridge to carry a maximum standard load. (9 to 11:30 a.m.)

Participating middle schools include Virgo, Myrtle Grove Christian, Noble, Williston, Roland-Grise, Trask, Murray, Myrtle Grove, Wilmington Academy of Arts and Sciences, Cape Fear Center for Inquiry, Leland, Shallotte, South Brunswick, Waccamaw, Clarkton, Tabor City and West Pender. Participating high schools include New Hanover, Ashley, Hoggard, Laney, North Brunswick, West Brunswick and South Brunswick and West Bladen.

The top five middle school teams and the top three high school teams will advance to state competition April 15-16 at North Carolina State University. Winning students will receive $500 scholarships to UNCW, with a total of $25,000 in scholarships to be awarded.

For more information contact Region 3 tournament director Jack Hall, chair, Department of Environmental Science at UNCW, at 910-962-3488 or hallj@uncw.edu. More information on the olympiad can be found at www.tx.ncsu.edu/science_olympiad.

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