The Texas Science Olympiad will be hosting build/design-themed events on Friday and laboratory and knowledge-based competitions on Saturday. These events will take place at the Brazos County Expo Complex in Bryan and Texas A&M campus, respectively. The “Towers” event, where students compete to design and build the lightest and tallest towers that can withstand a heavy load, will be held on Friday.
The competition aims to improve the quality of science education in schools by testing students’ knowledge through problem-solving skills and teamwork. Each participating school can enter one team of 15 students in either Division B (grades 6-9) or Division C (grades 9-12). Over the two-day competition, students will showcase their skills by constructing the longest-flying gliders, tallest towers, most efficient boom and battery-powered cars, launching indoor bottle rockets, detecting diseases, and discerning potions and poisons.
Nearly 200 Texas A&M and Blinn College faculty, staff, and students, along with local coordinators from the Brazos Valley, will be present to set up and judge the 56 events of the competition. Additionally, organizers and judges from NASA, as well as business and industrial representatives from Houston and Austin communities, are volunteering their expertise. The competition concludes with an awards ceremony on Saturday evening at 6:30 p.m., in Texas A&M’s Rudder Auditorium.