Kentucky Science Olympiad Set
For Saturday At WKU

April 19, 2004

Bowling Green, Ky. - About 600 middle and high school students will compete in the Kentucky Science Olympiad state tournament on Saturday at Western Kentucky University.

The tournament begins at 8:10 a.m. in Thompson Complex Central Wing, room 129. At 8:35 a.m., competition begins in several events such as bottle rocket, robot ramble, storm the castle, tower building, egg drop, robo billiards and bridge building.

Competitive events will be held in Thompson Complex, Environmental Science and Technology Hall and the Ivan Wilson Fine Arts Center Amphitheater. The final rounds conclude at 2:15 p.m. An awards ceremony begins at 4 p.m. at Van Meter Auditorium.

The event aims to increase student interest in science and improve community perception of science education, said Lowell Shank, chemistry professor and co-director of the state tournament. "The Olympiad hopes to capture the kind of interest, enthusiasm and commitment for science that we see exhibited for sports," he said.

The top high school team and top middle school team advance to the Science Olympiad National Finals May 21-22 at Juniata College in Pennsylvania.

Additional information is available online at http://www.jctc.kctcs.net/kso/ and http://www.soinc.org

For more information, contact Lowell Shank at (270) 745-4986. More WKU news is available on the World Wide Web at www.wku.edu. If you'd like to receive WKU news via E-mail, send a message to WKUNews@wku.edu.

-WKU-