West Virginia Envirothon

The Envirothon is a conservation education program and competition for students in grades 9 through 12. The West Virginia Envirothon focuses on five subject areas: aquatics, forestry, soils, wildlife, and a current environmental topic. By participating in the Envirothon program, students learn about West Virginia’s diverse ecosystem and how they can help conserve and protect it for future generations. Teams consist of five members and a teacher/adviser who guides the team.

The top five winning teams in the state are awarded scholarships and the winning team is automatically entered into the NCF-Envirothon competition.

Teams can register with Heather Duncan by phone at 681-247-3013 (office) or by fax at 304-263-4986.

Teams also can register by mailing their information to:

Heather Duncan
151 Aikens Center, Suite 2
Martinsburg, WV 25404
.

Follow this website to find out more about the WV Envirothon: http://www.wvca.us/envirothon/

For more information and to stay up to date on everything about the West Virginia Envirothon on Facebook, please visit https://www.facebook.com/WVEnvirothon/

For more information on the NCF-Envirothon, the upcoming competition, and other details, please visit https://www.envirothon.org/

West Virginia Regional Junior Science and Humanities Symposium (JSHS)

The Junior Science and Humanities Symposium is a science, technology, engineering, and mathematics scholarship competition for students in grades 9-12. JSHS is sponsored by the U.S. Army, Air Force, and Navy. Strong science fair projects usually do well in the JSHS format (a 12-minute oral presentation). The regional symposium is hosted by West Virginia Wesleyan College.

For more information and to register for the WV Regional JSHS, visit https://cvent.me/ebqWzo or contact Tracey DeLaney at delaney_t@wvwc.edu.

You Be The Chemist Challenge® STEM competition (Grades 5-8)

The Challenge is a team-based, STEM competition for students in grades 5-8 to explore the excitement and value of chemistry in everyday life — and getting started is easy (and free)! The Challenge consists of two parts: a virtual science competition (February/March) and a virtual video competition (due April 1).

How do students participate in the Challenge?

  • Students participate in teams of four (4) — students must be from the same school
  • All students participate in all levels of competition
  • Students can participate from their own homes or from their classroom

Why should you register for the Challenge?

  • The Challenge can be used as an asynchronous education tool for your virtual or in-person classroom
  • Study guides, an example of our interactive study materials, and unit plans are available for students to prepare for the Challenge
  • Only one teacher per school needs to register

Register your school today and encourage your students to begin collaborating on their videos.

WV Science Olympiad

Marshall University’s College of Science hosts the annual WV State Tournament of Science Olympiad.

The website of Science Olympiad: https://www.soinc.org/

The website of WV Science Olympiad: https://netapps.marshall.edu/so/

If you have any questions, feel free to contact Dr. Sachiko McBride, Assistant Professor of Physics at Marshall University, and the WV state Director for the 2021 Science Olympiad. mcbridesa@marshall.edu

Chemistry Olympiad

Attention Chemistry Students:

It is time to begin planning for the annual High School Chemistry Test sponsored by the American Chemical Society (ACS). The American Chemical Society (https://www.acs.org/content/acs/en.html) is the largest professional society in the world. Its mission is to advance the broader chemistry enterprise and its practitioners for the benefit of Earth and its people. The local regional section (Northern WV) of the ACS includes sixteen counties: Braxton, Barbour, Calhoun, Doddridge, Gilmer, Harrison, Lewis, Marion, Monongalia, Preston, Randolph, Ritchie, Taylor, Tucker, Upshur, and Webster.

The NWV section sponsors a high school chemistry exam for students with one and two years of chemistry. Tentatively, this exam occurs in mid-March at locations throughout the section and recognizes those who score well on the test (with a certificate & a monetary gift) and their teachers (a gift). All students who are currently taking chemistry (first year, second year, or advanced) are invited to participate in the local high school exam.

  1. A first-year test winner will be selected for each county from the Section. The county winner will receive a $50 award.
  2. An overall winner for the first year and for the second-year test (Local Section Olympiad Test) will be recognized and will receive a $100 award (note: the 1st year overall winner will receive the $100 award in place of the $50 award given for the county winner).
  3. No registration fee is required.

The ten students to be nominated by the NWVACS to take the National Chemistry Olympiad examination will be selected by the NWVACS Education Committee on the basis of the test scores of the 2nd year test (Local Section Olympiad Test).

Please contact:  Dr. Harry Finklea, Professor Emeritus, Dept. of Chemistry West Virginia University

Email: Harry.Finklea@mail.wvu.edu

USA Biolympiad

The USABO is a competition for high school students who are passionate about biology. The competition has four tiers. The first tier, 50-minute Open Exam, is open to all students nationwide. In the second tier, the top 500 students in the USA from Tier 1 sit for a 2-hour exam to determine the top 20 students in the USA. These students identified as National Finalists move forward to the third tier the National Finals, a two-week training program with lectures, discussions and hands-on lab training conducted with instructors from top-level universities to include Stanford, MIT, UC San Diego, George Washington University and others. Students are evaluated during this program and the top four students compete against 80 other countries in Tier 4 International Biology Olympiad (IBO). Students at each tier have declared that participation in the USABO has been a life-changing experience.

Your students who participate in the USABO will have the opportunity for this life-changing experience by sharing their passion for biology with like-minded students nationally and internationally and establishing lifelong relationships that extend into their future careers. Please visit the USABO website for more information at https://www.usabo-trc.org/.

West Virginia Science Bowl

Throwback 30: Celebrating 30 years of West Virginia Science Bowl!

The National Energy Technology Laboratory in Morgantown, WV hosts the 2021 West Virginia Regional Science Bowl. Be a part the Science Bowl by registering on the U.S. Department of Energy website!

Additional information and updates will be posted on the wvsciencebowl.org, please reach out to Andrew Melone, (Thomas.melone@netl.doe.gov) with any questions.