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Laura Edington

Richmond County Daily Journal

The Rockingham Middle School Science Olympiad team will be traveling to the state competition on April 27 at North Carolina State University.

The team consists of 36 students in sixth through eighth grade who maintain a B average and demonstrate an enthusiasm for science, technology, engineering and mathematics, also called STEM.

Students compete in more than 20 categories called Anatomy, Boomilever, Bottle Rocket, Crime Busters, Disease Detectives, Dynamic Planet, Elastic Launched Glider, Experimental Design, Food Science, Forestry, Heredity, Invasives, Meteorology, Metric Mastery, Mission Possible, Mousetrap Vehicle, Reach for the Stars, Road Scholar, Rocks and Minerals, Shock Value, Sounds of Music, Water Quality and Write, Do It.

According to Nikki Covington, the academically and intellectually gifted teacher for both Rockingham Middle and Ellerbe Middle schools and an advisor to the Olympiad team coaches, the competition inspires student to get involved in science. She said that during the Regional competition in February, Rockingham Middle took first place in the Sounds of Music and Road Scholar competitions.

There are three Olympiad coaches from Rockingham Middle School; Rachel Munshower, Deborah Marshall and Kristie Wikane.

Munshower said that this is the fourth year Rockingham middle has been in the event and the students love participating.

She said the competition is really difficult. “…it’s made for people who work at Duke or people who work at Chapel Hill,” she said.

“The competition prepares them (the students) for life skills and gives them an opportunity to see other careers that could be out there that can stem from whichever event they are in. Not necessarily just the competition of the science, but they learn how to work as a team and how to respect the other teams. They also learn leadership skills and communication,” Munshower said.

In 2012, more than 600 K-12 teams representing over 11,000 students and 65 counties in North Carolina participated in NCSO activities.

NCSO is a nonprofit organization with the mission to attract and retain the pool of K-12 students entering STEM degrees and careers in North Carolina. Every year NCSO hosts tournaments on university, community college, and public school campuses across the state. These tournaments are rigorous academic interscholastic competitions that consist of a series of different hands-on, interactive, challenging and inquiry-based events that are balanced between the various disciplines of biology, earth science, environmental science, chemistry, physics, engineering and technology.

— Staff Writer Laura Edington can be reached at 910-997-3111, ext. 18, or by email at ledington@civitasmedia.com.