Cool experiments, heated competition at CLC science olympiad

About 1,000 middle and high school science students conducted cool science experiments amid heated competition during Saturday's Grayslake Regional Science Olympiad Competition at the College of Lake County.

Event titles included "Meteorology," "Hovercraft," "Mousetrap Vehicle" and "Thermodynamics." Some of the most popular and spectator-friendly events involved robots, helicopters, electric vehicles and roller coasters.

CLC faculty members were involved as event supervisors, and used their expertise in areas such as lasers, photonics, optics, chemistry and physics.

The competition featured 17 high schools, including Cary-Grove, Warren Township, Huntley, Libertyville, Stevenson, Lake Forest, Grayslake Central, Grayslake North, Lake Forest Academy, Mundelein, Marian Catholic, Crystal Lake South, Jacobs, Prairie Ridge and Westminster Christian. The 11 participating middle schools included Antioch Upper Grade School, Frederick, Grayslake, Woodland, Daniel Wright Jr. High, Saint Gilbert, Park Campus, Hannah Beardsley and Olive C. Martin School.

The top five middle school teams and the top seven high school teams will advance to the state competition April 21 at the University of Illinois. For information on the competition, visit www.illinoisolympiad.org.