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Future Einsteins on display

by Emilie Bauer
Lafayette Journal and Courier

When James Nolan was in high school, he joined his school's Science Olympiad team.

"I liked making things," said the Purdue University junior majoring in physics.

Now, as a volunteer at the Science Olympiad state finals held Saturday at Purdue, he enjoys watching the middle school and high school students compete.

His fellow volunteer, Purdue freshman math major William Young, likes watching the students approach the same problem from different angles.

"I like to look around and see who's the next Einstein," said Young.

Young had plenty of opportunity to see future scientists and engineers Saturday as 1,000 middle and high school students from around the state competed in 23 science and math events.

Challenges included Storm the Castle, requiring students to catapult objects toward a target on a cardboard castle, and Wright Stuff, which had students fighting to keep airplanes in the air that were powered solely by rubber bands.

No local teams advanced to the state finals, but this is the first year Purdue hosted this event, which began in 1993.

Purdue has hosted regional competitions.

The competitions, said Bill Walker, Purdue's College of Science K-12 Outreach director, give students extra motivation to excel in the fields of science, engineering, technology and math.

"It provides positive encouragement for them to display their math and science talents," said Walker.

The competition is one of the largest student outreach events for the College of Science.

Though the purpose of the competition isn't to recruit future Purdue students, computer science outreach coordinator and supervisor Mindy Hart said information on Purdue and its programs were available to students.

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