For the Gazette

STEVENS POINT — More than 125 students, representing 26 teams from 16 area high schools, will compete in the 2019 North Regional Wisconsin Science Olympiad next month, held for the first time at the University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point.

The event is from 9 a.m. to 2 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 9, in the Chemistry Biology Building, 2101 Fourth Ave., Stevens Point. The event is free and open to the public.

Students from the following and high schools will compete in the Science Olympiad:

• Appleton-St. Francis Xavier
• Athens
• Chippewa Falls
• D.C. Everest
• Denmark
• Lakeland Union
• Marshfield
• Medford Area
• Menomonie
• Mosinee
• Neenah
• Portage
• Spencer
• Tomah
• Wausau East
• Wausau West

Teams will participate in 28 science knowledge and skills tests and demonstrations, including computer coding, thermodynamics, forensic chemistry, robotics and cryptography. Teachers from the participating high schools, along with UW-Stevens Point faculty members from campuses in Stevens Point, Marshfield and Wausau, will design, run and score the competition, adhering to national event requirements. Qualifiers will advance to the state tournament at UW-Stout on March 15 and 16.

Now in its 35th year, the Science Olympiad is the largest team science and technology competition in North America. The national tournament will be held June 1 at Cornell University, Ithaca, N.Y.

For more information, contact tournament organizer Keith Montgomery at [email protected] or 715-212-8008,