FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: Cheryl Osteroos, 719 660 3037, [email protected] Team website: www.homeschoolsciencecolorado.com

TOP U.S. STUDENTS COMPETE IN THE 2013 OLYMPIAD NATIONAL TOURNAMENT AT WRIGHT STATE UNIVERSITY

DAYTON, — Wright State University hosted more than 3,000 students, educators and parents from all 50 states during the 29th Annual Science Olympiad National Tournament on May 17-18, 2013. A team of talented students from Homeschool Science B Division team from El Paso and Teller counties and coached by Cheryl Osteroos represented Colorado at the National Tournament.

Homeschool Science Colorado Science Olympiad B Division team members include: Joshua Barkman, Sam Barkman, Stephanie Bell, Michael Bell, Quintin Culver, Sam Hoeffel, Makhaila Keown, Kenyon Kaegi, Nathan Leusink, Juan Loa, John McCollin, Ciara McGuire, Wyatt Maples, Zeth Maughan, and Savannah Perkins. The Homeschool Science Colorado Science Olympiad team placed 2nd at the Colorado Science Olympiad State Tournament at School of Mines, Golden, Colorado in April 2013 to make it to the National Tournament. Homeschool Science Colorado additionally earned the 1st place trophy for Southern Regional Tournament and received a total of 31 event medals of the 46 events between the two tournaments. The planning began when the team learned they would be going to national Tournament; collecting Colorado trinkets for the National Team Roster Swap Meet, asking businesses for sponsorships, making travel arrangements, studying and testing devices more intensely than before, and staying calm for our new long desired opportunity. Within less than three weeks the team received more than $5000 from community sponsors GE Johnson Construction, Brindle Way, After School University, Murphy Constructors, Simply Kids Dental, Colorado Family Dentistry, Meyer and Lydiatt Family Dentistry, and Make it Mine Embroidery. Friday evening during the tournament opening ceremony Homeschool Science Colorado team represented Colorado in the Parade of States with a 3x5 ft banner resembling the Colorado license plate and 4 selected team members dressed up in Colorado themed costumes; the state flower, a ski enthusiast, a fighter pilot, and a miner. The team also proudly represented the State of Colorado on competition day with a 3rd place win in Metric Mastery and a 1st place win in Invasive Species. Overall the team placed 25th out of 61 competing teams with many event placements within the top 20.

Homeschool Science Colorado offers the opportunity in Science Olympiad to all homeschooled families with students who are excited about science. If the student is willing to work hard and be part of a team, they are accepted on a team. Not one student has been turned away for their academic ability. Having a successful homeschool science team is quite an accomplishment for the kids and coaching staff. Many coaches are engineers, medical professionals, and educators within our community and many more are stay at home moms willing to take on a science topic and learn it with their child. Lab supplies, textbooks, and other study resources are purchased by each family. Innovation and resourcefulness have been the keys to our teams’ success.

As one of the nation’s most prestigious science, technology, engineering and math (STEM) competitions, Science Olympiad at the national level brings together 120 winning and high school teams advancing from state-level competitions this spring. Rigorous hands-on and lab events led by experts from government agencies, top universities and Science Olympiad state chapters cover topics in physics, robotics, epidemiology, astronomy, chemistry, biology and engineering.

“We are so proud to host this prestigious event. Science Olympiad is the pinnacle of science- related competitions for our sharpest middle and high school students,” said Wright State President David R. Hopkins. “The students competing in the National Tournament are some of our nation’s brightest young minds. These talented young people embody the same pioneering spirit of innovation and ingenuity that helped the Wright brothers, for whom our university is named, soar into the skies. We are honored to welcome them to our campus and hope their dreams will take flight.”

Each gold medal winner in an individual event and each member of the first-place teams in both middle and high school will win a renewable scholarship to Wright State University.

This year, Science Olympiad welcomed another Global Ambassador Team from Japan to the National Tournament. Since 2009, Science Olympiad has worked with the Japan Science and Technology Agency (JST) and the Ministry for Education (MEXT) to share best practices and science content. In 2013, JST hosted its second annual Japan High School Science Competition (JHSSC), crowning winners from the Aichi Prefectural Okazaki High School. The Grand Prize for the competition was a trip to visit the National Tournament, where Japanese students met their American peers and participated as guests in selected Science Olympiad events.

Local sponsors of the 2013 Science Olympiad National Tournament are the Wright State Research Institute, Anthem, PNC, Teradata, and Jayna, Inc. Science Olympiad is supported nationally by Lockheed Martin, Instruments, U.S. Air Force, Centers for Disease Control (CDC), U.S. Army ROTC, Discovery Education, DuPont, National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), Ward’s Science, Academy of Model Aeronautics, MAKE magazine, Society for Neuroscience and the VWR Foundation.

Science Olympiad is a Chicago-area-based national nonprofit organization founded in 1984. It is dedicated to improving the quality of K-12 STEM education, increasing student interest in science, creating a technologically literate workforce and providing recognition for outstanding achievement by both students and . Nearly 200,000 students on 6,800 teams from all 50 states competed in 350 regional, state and national Science Olympiad tournaments last year.