About 600 middle and high school students from the area competed to test their science knowledge and skills.

The 18th annual Science Olympiad was held at Bismarck State College on Thursday. About 100 math and science students and faculty from the college assisted with judging and setting up the events.

Emily Levi, a BSC psychology sophomore and volunteer, said she never participated in the Science Olympiad in middle or high school.

"I was intimidated by science classes in junior high," Levi said. "It's just fun to have to learn about science in this kind of fun environment."

The competition started at 9 a.m., with students taking part in more than 30 different events. The events cover chemistry, physics, biology, forestry and astronomy, to name a few. Some of the events require the students to build items before the competition.

Robot Ramble consisted of teams of two building a robot only 30 inches high, 30 inches wide and 30 inches long. The robot was placed on a mat with two squares. In the first square was a box with a balloon in it. The teams would receive extra points if the robot popped the balloon.

In the second square were ping pong balls, corks, a golf ball and a film canister. The team received points if the robot moved the objects into the other square on the mat and even more points if they lifted the objects into the box that held the balloon.

Grant Galvin and Eric Sebastian, sophomores from Hazen Public High School, designed their robot with a vacuum to suck up the objects to put in the box. They were able to pick up two ping pong balls.

Other teams didn't have as much luck. Their robots locked up or got high-centered on the objects they were trying to move.

The only restriction other than size was the power of the robots. A 9.6 volt battery was the largest they could use. Other than those two restrictions, everything else was fair game.

An awards ceremony followed the event. The six top-ranking teams from the middle school division and high school division advance to the state competition in Fargo in April.

(Reach reporter Kayla Cogdill at 250-8251 or kaylacogdill@bismarcktribune.net.)