On Saturday, May 9, over 2000 students from forty local elementary schools participated in a fun day of learning and competition at the Washtenaw County Science Olympiad (WESO), held at Pioneer High School in Ann Arbor.
WESO was founded in 2002 and is an annual event offering students in grades 2-5 an opportunity to engage in a variety of science and math-focused learning experiences across such diverse topics as aerodynamics and flight mechanics, engineering, native animal knowledge, chemistry, physics, and more.
Every season, volunteer coaches lead teams of 1-5 students per grade across 17 different events, furthering the students’ understanding of science and math. Practices often involve designing experiments, generating hypotheses, and observing and recording outcomes as students apply the scientific method to gain better understanding of the underlying ideas.
Months of effort culminate in a county-wide competition where students go head-to-head against other grade-matched teams from area public, private, and charter schools. On competition day, students are also encouraged to explore a number of open events facilitated by volunteers and community partners, which are designed to encourage curiosity and exploration of various scientific concepts…