The University of Hawaiʻi at Hilo last month hosted the annual Hawaiʻi Island Regional Science Olympiad Tournament, held virtually this year in collaboration with the regional tournaments throughout the state. Students representing Hilo Intermediate and Hilo High School have qualified for the State Tournament, to be held March 29-April 3, 2021.
“This has been a year full of things that we can’t do, so it is a true tribute to coaches Cindy Fong and David Finley that the Science Olympiad teams from Hilo Intermediate and Hilo High School were able to continue to meet and prepare for this year’s regional competition,” noted Julie Mowrer, UH Hilo director of the Center for Community Engagement.
Sharon Dansereau, whose son participated on the Hilo Intermediate team, shared, “We’ve been so grateful to have activities like Science Olympiad stay alive this year! Initially, my son considered quitting because he was sad they couldn’t hold his favorite events online, but so much kudos to Cindy Fong and the other coaches for drumming up enthusiasm for what they could do: meet up virtually to collaborate with other kids, design small experiments at home to test out theories, pull together as a team for the competitions, complete with last minute strategy meetings, and surprise victories!”
Hokulani Thomas, a 10th grader at Hilo High School, added, “School has been hard this year but doing Science Olympiad certainly spiced it up. Not only did it give me something to do, it also gave me a way to connect with my friends and have Science Olympiad as sort of a bonding time.”
Fong credits the other coaches and students for working together to keep up the enthusiasm during a tough year. They needed to navigate an online platform created specifically for the Science Olympiad and learn new ways of communicating and collaborating online.
“It was rocky at first, trying to figure out where to go and how to work out what we should be doing,” Thomas said. “But we soon got the hang of it, and now we are working hard on placing for states.”
The regional Science Olympiad competition is supported by the Hawaiʻi Community Foundation.