Students and Parents from Field Elementary School’s winning Science Olympiad team.

Students from Field Elementary School in the Pasadena Unified School District (PUSD) are gold medal winners in the Los Angeles County Science Olympiad, a daylong science competition recently held on the campus of Occidental College. 188 schools participated in the Olympiad, with 67 competing in the elementary division.

The 15 person Science Olympiad teams faced off against each other in a series of events held across the Occidental campus. The students matched their science knowledge and engineering skills by taking rigorous written tests on geology, meteorology, marine biology, astronomy, and zoology and demonstrating engineering skills using ingeniously designed catapults, elastic-band powered paddle boats, and other apparatuses such as energy boxes and containers for the unforgiving 40-foot egg drop. When the final scores were tallied at the end of the Olympiad, the Field team tied with three other teams for first place and was presented with a gold medal.

According to representatives from the Los Angeles County Science Olympiad, ¼ of Caltech Undergraduate students have participated in a Science Olympiad competition. This is the second year Field participated in the Science Olympiad, and the second year that the students earned a gold medal. Sierra Madre Middle School also participated in the Olympiad and placed 11th in only their third year of competing.

The Field students put in an incredible effort developing their skills and science knowledge over a period of four months by studying after school on Fridays and attended Saturday practice sessions. The Field team was guided in this initiative by a dedicated group of parent coaching volunteers who prepared curricula, led study sessions, and mentored the team members. The coaches worked with the students to design and test engineering principles, including devices made out of pasta or soda straws. The Science Olympiad represented an important step toward understanding and exploring the natural world for the students and opened up their creative thinking, inspiring a new generation of scientists and engineers.

The students from Field will be honored by Senator Carol Liu’s Office in front of the student body this Friday, March 13 at 8:45 a.m. Field Elementary School is located at 3600 Sierra Madre Blvd. in Pasadena.

For more information, visit www.pusd.us/pages/PasadenaUSD.