The Blaine County Journal News-Opinion - We've Got The County Covered

Two teams from Chinook Junior/Senior High School (CHS) traveled to Bozeman on April 14 in order to compete in the 37th Montana Science Olympiad. From the Division C team competing in Dynamic Planet, Liam Edwards and his brother Quentin won bronze medals.

Held on April 15 at Montana State University-Bozeman (MSU), the Montana State Tournament included 14 events in Division B (Middle School) and 14 events in Division C (High School). Chinook's Division B team placed 21st overall, while the Division C team took 23rd.

Participating students, who raised most of the funds needed for this trip through cookie dough sales, did much of their research and preparation outside of the classroom. During the week of the competition, the junior high team met after school with their advisor, Kendall Harwood, who teaches junior high math and science at CHS. These meetings offered opportunities not only to practice but to clarify some of the material.

About his student group, Harwood said: "We had eight 8th graders competing this year. Although we are usually able to fill a team of fifteen, the date switch from mid-November to our school's Easter break weekend limited our student numbers."

According to the Division C coach, Aaron Chriss, who teaches high school science, his team members spent most of their time studying, researching, and practicing during lunch. Multiple hours were dedicated to working on writing and building objects for their partners to describe.

Upon arriving in Bozeman on Thursday, the group's first official event was the Museum of the Rockies STEM Night. Held the night before the state tournament and described by several as "one of the favorite parts of the trip," students toured the museum and engaged in a variety of science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) activities. They also experienced a magic show and viewed the cosmos from the Taylor Planetarium.

The state-of-the-art projection system in the Taylor Planetarium offers Digistar 4K digital projection on a 40-foot dome. This allows visitors to experience the universe in vivid colors, dramatic motion, and brilliant displays of light.

The following morning, the 49 teams participating from across the state gathered for an Opening Ceremony. Competitions ensued from 8:30 a.m.-12:30 p.m.

Competing in Division B from Chinook this year were Bailey Billmayer (Ornithology, Road Scholar); Falyn Cecrle (Road Scholar); Kegan Green and Wyatt Olmstead (Solar System); Mara Edwards (Bridge & Rocks and Minerals); Carson Kelly (Bridge & Ornithology); Brooke Fetter (Write It, Do It); and Olivia Bartlett (Write It, Do It & Rocks and Minerals).

As Road Scholars, Billmayer and Cecrle were required to answer interpretive questions using state highway maps, USGS topographic maps, Internet-generated maps, a road atlas, or satellite/aerial images. For their knowledge, they placed 11th.

The Division B Ornithology contest invited participants to exercise their knowledge of North American birds, specifically those on the Montana State Bird List created by the Montana Bird Records Committee. Billmayer and Kelly won 17th place in this category.

Earning 19th in the Solar System event, Green and Olmstead demonstrated their understanding and knowledge of planet formation and structure in the solar system and how it relates to that observed in extrasolar systems.

In the Rocks and Minerals segment of competition, Bartlett and Edwards identified rocks and minerals marked for the state tournament to gain 13th place.

To reveal their ability with Technology and Engineering Design, prior to the competition, Edwards and Kelly built a bridge-like structure. According to competition guidelines, this had to be a single structure with no separate, loose, sliding, or detachable pieces. Hoping to achieve the highest structural efficiency, their bridge was intended to hold any load and meet all construction parameters and competition requirements.

During the competition on Friday, the team had to estimate the load their structure would support-given the mass of their bridge. In addition, judges invited them to present their completed design log. During that presentation, the pair had to answer questions regarding the design, construction, and operation of the device. Finally, they loaded their structure to test its structural integrity and scored 20th.

Additional competitors, Bartlett and Fetter competed in the Write It, Do It event. In this competition, one of the girls wrote a description of an object and directions for how to build it while the other attempted to construct the object from this description. They ranked at 7th place for their performance.

On the high school side in Division C, six students from CHS competed. Lillyanna Munari (Rocks and Minerals); Liam Edwards and Quentin Edwards (Write It, Do It & Dynamic Planet); Hannah Schoen and Jeni Mord (Write It, Do It); and Britton Elliot and Brockton Elliot (Write It, Do It).

Dynamic Planet invited the Edwards brothers to demonstrate their knowledge of physical and geological oceanography. Using their process skills, the duo completed tasks relating to Earth's fresh waters. For their efforts, the pair captured third, making them the highest placers from Chinook and the winners of bronze medals.

In other events, the Elliot siblings won 12th place in Write It, Do It and Munari earned 20th in Rocks and Minerals.

Following the competition events, teams participated in Talks and Tours. Some of these-like the tour of the ceramics lab and the new American Indian Hall-showcased facilities and programs and MSU. Others-such as a trip to the Plant Growth Center-provided awareness about some of the research going on at MSU.

Carson Kelly and Landon Beck pose with one of the fossils on display in the Siebel Dinosaur Complex.

For example, those who toured the ceramics lab learned that wild clays are found throughout the world. The unique deposits in the Bozeman and surrounding region are used to create ceramic art. This Talk and Tour shared an overview of ceramic students' research with using local ceramic materials and the facilities utilized for processing them.

In another, Professor of Graphic Design & Digital Photography, Jeffrey Conger led an exercise at the Renne Library where students explored the processes of creating with the Procreate app using an iPad to sketch, paint, and design. Similarly, the MSU School of Computing featured what Computer Science majors might study at Bozeman-from cybersecurity to virtual reality and robotics.

About the competition, Harwood said: "Science Olympiad is something I remember doing in junior high. It is a worthwhile experience for these students who got to experience a possible career path by enjoying some friendly science competition at MSU."