Science Olympiad

What Is Science Olympiad?

Science Olympiad is a national non-profit organization dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 science education, increasing male, female and minority interest in science, creating a technologically-literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and teachers.  

Just like an athletic team, Science Olympiad clubs are coached by teachers, improved by mentors and filled with top talent. Each fall, Science Olympiad releases new rules and teams tackle the 23 national and 5 state STEM-aligned events in pairs, building devices for on-site testing, studying for core knowledge challenges and preparing for rigorous hands-on lab experiments. Science Olympiad competitions are like academic track meets, students compete individually and as part of a team. 

Each year, a portion of the events are rotated to reflect the ever-changing nature of genetics, earth science, chemistry, anatomy, physics, geology, mechanical engineering and technology.  By combining events from all disciplines, Science Olympiad encourages a wide cross-section of students to get involved.  Emphasis is placed on active, hands-on group participation.  

Through Science Olympiad, students, teachers, parents, principals and business leaders bond together and work toward a shared goal.

There are currently over 7,000 Science Olympiad teams across the country. A school’s team has up to 15 members who will compete at Regional, State, and National competitions. Teams can also have alternate members, although those members won’t compete except in special circumstances. Team members are usually assigned three or four events . Most events have two people working on them, although for some events you are allowed to have three members on the event.