Students from two Arkansas high schools head to Madison, Wisc., this week to compete in the National Science Olympiad tournament – the first time the state has fielded a team.

Two teams – LISA Academy West campus in Little Rock and Nettleton High School in Jonesboro – qualified for nationals last month at an Arkansas Science Olympiad hosted by UALR and cosponsored by the Ouachita Technical College and UALR.

Several Arkansas schools have participated in Science Olympiad competitions in other states, but UALR’s hosting the state competition allowed the schools to participate in the national event, this year hosted by the University of Wisconsin in Madison.

Each school is allowed to bring a team of up to 15 students. Teams of two to three students participate in various events in the categories of Life, Personal, and Social Science;  Earth and Space Science; Physical Science and Chemistry; Technology and Engineering, and Inquiry; and Nature of Science.

LISA Academy won first place in the middle school division at the state olympiad at UALR on April 16. Nettleton won first place in the high school division.

Other schools participating in the state competition included LISA Academy North Campus and Beebe Junior High School in the middle school division and LISA Academy North Campus, LISA Academy West Campus, and Little Rock Central High School in the high school division.

The guest speakers at the Arkansas tournament were Dr. Kathie Olsen, former NASA chief scientist, and Dr. Robert C. Richardson, 1996 Nobel Prize winner in physics.

For more information about the Arkansas Science Olympiad visit https://ualr.edu/scienceolympiad/. For more information about the national Science Olympiad visit http://www.soinc.org/