COURTESY PHOTOS
Santa Barbara Unified School District students excel at the Regional Science Olympiad.
Students and staff at Santa Barbara Unified’s junior high schools are celebrating a strong performance at the Regional Science Olympiad.
Santa Barbara, La Cumbre and Goleta Valley junior high schools competed in the event on March 11 at UCSB.
The Regional Science Olympiad was in person for the first time since the pandemic.
The Science Olympiad is a national STEM competition featuring 6,000 teams at 425 tournaments in all 50 states. Santa Barbara Unified students participated in the regional competition that included the Central and South Coast and Southern California.
SB Unified students earned 44 individual Science Olympiad medals at the competition.
La Cumbre won third place in the Fast Facts competition, the only school from Santa Barbara County to place in that event. The school also just missed medaling, fourth place, in Roller Coaster.
Santa Barbara Junior High excelled in engineering events, winning silver medals in Bridge, Flight and Roller Coaster. The Condors also had solid showings in their other two events, “Crime Busters” and “Write It, Do It.”
Goleta Valley Junior High’s two teams earned medals in 18 events:
— Gold Medals: Crave the Wave, Experimental Design, Rocks and Minerals, Sounds of Music and Storm the Castle.
— Silver Medals: Can’t Judge a Powder, Crime Busters, Disease Detectives, Meteorology, Rocks and Minerals.
— Bronze Medals: Anatomy and Physiology, Bio Process Lab, Bridge, Flight, Solar System, Code Busters, Disease Detectives and Write It Do It.
“The success these students had in the Regional Science Olympiad shows their hard work and dedication to STEM,” said Dr. Hilda Maldonado, superintendent. “As we prepare future engineers, scientists and mathematicians, these events inspire and contribute to bringing real-life lessons that their teachers and coaches deliver daily.”
Ellen Barger, associate superintendent, curriculum and instruction of the Santa Barbara County Education Office, helped bring the event back to the region.
email: mmcmahon@newspress.com
