SOCORRO, N.M. (Feb. 26, 2024) — Socorro High School, Cottonwood Valley Charter School and Sarracino Middle School were three of the 54 teams that converged on New Mexico Tech’s campus on Saturday, Feb. 24, to take part in the Science Olympiad. Socorro High School placed second overall in Division C; and Cottonwood Valley and Sarracino placed second and ninth, respectively, in Division B.

The competition is always tough at this event, and Socorro’s students competed in 23 different events, from
fossils, ecology and flight to “Codebusters,” “Fast Facts,” and “Reach for the Stars.”

Event co-coordinator Rio Sessions, who participated in Science Olympiad for six years, loves planning and
facilitating this event. The Tech sophomore physics major simply loves seeing students “all over campus who are in their element, and they are focused…. That I am able to provide that for them is just one of the most rewarding feelings.”

Sessions leads an army of 50 or so volunteers for the event, whose jobs range from scanning students into
events, judging the competition or in some cases, deciding on what surprise materials competitors will be
asked to use for design and experiment challenges. When it’s time for the national competition, Sessions will be there as an event supervisor.

One big change to this year’s event: wristbands and scanners. Tech sophomore Cody Johnston, also a Science Olympiad and Socorro High alum, worked with Tech alums Jay Garcia and Taylor Gutierrez to create a barcode scanning system for participants as they enter each event. This process serves to track students and record results more easily. Sharon Sessions, Physics Department chair (and Rio’s mom), said, “It's a significant leap from paper sign-in or the online sign-in that didn't work last year.”

Ann Hatch, the state Science Olympiad director and outreach coordinator at Tech, said, “We have spent the
last four years rebuilding our events — during, through, and after the pandemic…. We were able to hold everything virtually for 2021, hybrid 2022, and fully in-person for 2023. We've continued to rebuild it over stronger every year.”

To keep registration fees and supplies costs low, a State Incentive Grant from Science Olympiad Nationals
makes it possible to recruit more schools and have teams with 15-17 people.

The full list of competing teams and winners is located here:
https://www.nmt.edu/stem/olympiad/DivB_FinalRankings_2024.pdf
https://www.nmt.edu/stem/olympiad/DivC_FinalRankings_2024.pdf

For more information on Science Olympiad, visit https://www.nmt.edu/stem/olympiad/index.php, or contact
Ann Hatch at New Mexico Tech, ann.hatch@nmt.edu.