Maria Glotfelter
Features Editor

This past Saturday, March 25, Millersville University hosted the Pennsylvania Central Region Science Olympiad. Sponsored by Phoenix Contact, the event took place on Millersville’s campus, mostly in Pucillo Gym.    

Middle schoolers and high schoolers competed against each other in scientific-themed competitions. The whole event lasted from 7:00am-5:00pm. Registration began at 7:00am, and the opening ceremony was held at 8:30am. From 9:00am-2:50pm, teams competed against each other.

One of the contests was launching small planes made from wood or paper equipped with propellers from rubber bands. Whichever plan stayed in the air the longest was the winner. There was also a bottle rocket competition as well as a helicopter competition.

Finally, the closing ceremony took place from 4:15-5:00pm and winning teams were awarded medals or trophies for their success.

The Science Olympiad needed a lot of help to come together, including some help from student volunteers. There were mostly student volunteers, and some faculty were running the stations or events. Rachel Ashmore, a student volunteer at Science Olympiad, felt particularly strong about the event’s benefits.

“I really like that it involves students in science at a young age because I personally didn’t have much experience with that until high school, so it was kind of cool to see the middle schoolers compete and be passionate about science,” said Ashmore.

Celebrating the sciences is important, and MU students played a big role in helping make the Science Olympiad an event. If you missed this year, look out for next year’s Science Olympiad.