Oakdale Joint Unified School District has once again proven that brains are equal to brawn within the zip code and that starts young.
On Saturday, March 30 Oakdale left a definite dent on the medal as well as the trophy count during the 22nd Annual Stanislaus County Elementary Science Olympiad. Fair Oaks proved to be stacked with scientists as they advanced up two spots from last year’s third place win, to be named the overall winner this year, bringing home the first place trophy.
Cloverland Elementary ensured the third place position was maintained by an OJUSD school earning the title as third place winner this year.
“When we heard the third place, we kind of thought we missed our chance,” Fair Oaks Team Coach and fifth grade teacher, Mary White shared. She noted the team had approached the event hoping to maintain their third place title.
The coach shared, her team of 17 grew excited for their fellow Oakdale school, the Cloverland Cougars, chalking it up to it just not being their year. She herself shared, while she had been keeping track of the medals collected, a total of nine for the team, she figured perhaps the other area scores were just not high enough.
“Then when they called second place (Hickman Charter), we thought for sure it must be Walnut,” she said of the anticipated first place team, only to learn that the Falcons of Fair Oaks were indeed the champions. “We were very happy and surprised, so I felt good that those nine medals meant something.”
According to the coach the team was evenly spread across all three grade levels this year, which aids with building future teams.
“Our favorite part is just when the kids come back from each event and they have to report to the coaches,” she said of hearing the student feedback on how they felt they performed.
The 2019 Stanislaus County Science Olympiad was hosted at Walnut School in Turlock. A total of over 20 schools participated in the daylong event.
A total of 24 individual medals were awarded to Oakdale Elementary Schools: Cloverland with six; Fair Oaks with nine; Magnolia with two and Sierra View with seven.
The following medals were awarded to the following schools:
Cloverland: Bridge Building, Second Place; Circuit Wizardry, Second Place; Crime Busters, First Place; Orienteering, Third Place; Rock Hound, Fifth Place and Write It Do It, Third Place.
Fair Oaks: Circuit Wizardry, Fourth Place; Deep Blue Sea, Third Place; Knock, Knock - Who’s There, Second Place; Mystery Architecture, Fifth Place; Paddle Boat, Fourth Place; Picture This, Third Place; Straw Egg Drop, First Place; Water Rockets, Second Place and Write It Do It, Second Place.
Magnolia: Circuit Wizardry, First Place and Rock Hound, Second Place.
Sierra View: Crime Busters, Third Place; Deep Blue Sea, Fourth Place; Leaf and Tree, Fifth Place; Orienteering, Fourth Place; Paddle Boat, Third Place; Rock Hound, Fourth Place and Straw Egg Drop, Fifth Place.
