Young scientists from throughout the region, including Oakdale and Riverbank, are gearing up to participate in the 39th Annual Stanislaus County Regional Science Olympiad, set for Saturday, March 9, 2024. The event will be hosted at Modesto Junior College, West Campus. It will begin at 8:30 a.m. and end with the awards ceremony, held inside of the Agriculture Pavilion at 4:30 p.m. Over 500 students representing area junior and senior high schools will participate in the day-long event.

Participating junior high schools include: Blaker-Kinser, Cardozo, Hickman Charter, La Loma, Oakdale, Our Lady of Fatima, Prescott, Riverbank Language Academy, Roosevelt and Ustach. Participating high schools include: Beyer, Central Catholic, Ceres, Davis, Don Pedro, Downey, Enochs, Gregori, Johansen, Merced, Modesto, Modesto Christian, Oakdale, Oakdale Charter, Pitman and Turlock.

The Regional Science Olympiad consists of individual and team events that encourage learning in biology, earth science, chemistry, physics, problem-solving and technology. Some events require knowledge of scientific facts and concepts, while others rely on science processes, skills or applications. Some events require students to build devices before the competitions, such as Wheeled Vehicle. For this event, teams must design, build and test one vehicle that uses a non-metallic, elastic material as its sole means of propulsion to travel a distance as quickly and accurately as possible.

This year’s Science Olympiad, sponsored by the Stanislaus County Office of Education (SCOE) and Modesto Junior College, will have more than 125 science educators and community volunteers judging or assisting with the competition.

The state NorCal Science Olympiad is scheduled for April 6, 2024 at California State University, East Bay in Hayward.