Caltech Hosts SoCal State Science Olympiad Tournament

Caltech hosted the Southern California State Science Olympiad Tournament on April 7, at which more than 1,000 K–12 students competed in science and engineering challenges.

Some 100 Caltech student and faculty volunteers helped run the event, which has served as one of the country's premier science competitions and has been fostering student interest in STEM (science, technology, engineering, and mathematics) fields since the 1980s.

Jeffrey Trail Middle School (Irvine, California) won the middle-school division of the competition. Troy High School (Fullerton, California) won the upper-grade division. Both teams are invited to attend the 34th Annual Science Olympiad National Tournament hosted on May 18–19, 2018, by Colorado State University in Ft. Collins, Colorado.

Miriam Sun, a Caltech sophomore biology major and member of the Science Olympiad planning team, says this was the third year Caltech hosted the Olympiad, which seems especially fitting considering the Institute's leadership position in STEM research: "Through this competition, we hope that Caltech can continue to help the next generation of scientists and engineers develop useful skills for the future."