Mark Keppel’s United Sciences Club hosted their annual Science Field Day on March 18th. The competition included 22 different contests for middle school contestants.
Seven middle schools participated in the contest, which had different fields of science. The contests mirrored Science Olympiad, with a final buzzer event called BECAP modeled after Science Bowl. The competition’s overall performance trophy award went to Garvey in first place, with Ynez in second, and Brightwood in third.
This year, there were five new events: Hydrogeology which tested groundwater concepts, Periodic Properties, where competitors identified elements based off of their properties, Ocean’s Lab Test which focused on oceans (based on Oceans Bowl), Rocky Roller Coaster, in which roller coasters were built using provided materials, and Juice from Juice.
Juice from Juice was a contest where solar cells were built using blackberry juice and was presented by representatives from California’s Institute of Technology (CalTech). In addition, CalTech ran a hydrolysis demonstration for participants.
This was the first year that CalTech became involved in Science Field Day. With CalTech on board, Mr. Howley hoped “they [middle school participants] gained understanding of a new field and got to talk to people of a high level and a place that has a good reputation.”
Co-coordinator of Science Field Day, junior Lyan Ly, highlighted the importance of the event to UniSci and the community. Ly said, “We [UniSci] hoped to get them excited about science and our club and really wanted to get more interest in our teams. We also wanted our proctors to experience taking charge of peers and students and being a part of a group.”
Although Keppel students were not permitted to compete, there were over 150 student volunteers in attendance. Junior Holman Lau, United Science’s treasurer and volunteer, said, “The workload is a lot, but it’s rewarding because you get to help kids and give them a bit of a high school experience while having some fun.”
