Mar 29, 2017 10:47 AM EDT By Audri Taylors, UniversityHerald Reporter

Students from all over southeast Michigan gathered at Hillsdale College Saturday to be part of the Region 9 Science Olympiad. The competition is composed of 16 middle school teams and nine high school teams who were ready to take on the challenge in 46 science-related events.

The event started with a registration in the morning and ended with an award ceremony in the afternoon, Hillsdale Daily News reported. Chris Hamilton, the one who oversees the event, said that it covers the whole range of the sciences.

The contests in the event consist of chemistry lab event, ecology event, bottle rocket event, forensics events, disease detectives, and event which focused on using topological maps and geography, and one on hydrogeology. Hamilton said that it was one great opportunity for students to see how fun and practical science can be.

Hamilton shared the positive benefits that Science Olympiad has brought to the students. He said that there was a student who came to the event many years ago when he was high school and when he went back, they found that he was a physics major in college, and is currently in grad school getting his PhD.

Aside from the positive impact of the said event to the middle and high school participants, it is also a way for Hillsdale College student to help prepare younger students who show interest in science and want to compete.

The Science Olympiad is a non profit organization which aims to improve the quality of science education and increase the interest of students in science, according to the Loquitur. It was in 1985 when the Pennsylvania Science Olympiad started with 30 teams competing in just one location. Now, there are more than 300 teams who are competing in a total of six regions nationwide.

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