Launching a rubber band powered helicopter, building a 10-gram tower capable of holding 15 kilograms and building a robot to force a competitor’s robot out of a ring are the kinds of things that make science fun and, on Saturday, April 2, competitive.

More than 1,100 Kansas students will put their creative and scientific skills to the test in the 24th annual Kansas Science Olympiad tournament, hosted by Wichita State University. Koch Industries Inc. is the primary sponsor of the event.

Events will take place in various venues throughout the campus, starting at 9 a.m. April 2. The locations and times of events that are open to the public can be found at http://webs.wichita.edu/scienceolympiad/ and by clicking on the “State Tournament Open Events” link in the current news box.

Fifty-nine teams of middle and high school students will challenge each other in 46 events. The participating teams advanced to the state contest from five regional contests.

The teams with the best scores in both the middle and high school divisions qualify for the National Science Olympiad to be held at the University of Wisconsin - Madison on May 20 and 21. Kansas teams have a tradition of doing well at the national tournament.

The Kansas Science Olympiad is supported by corporate donations, with companies providing many of the volunteers needed to judge the contest. Besides Koch Industries, other contributors are The Boeing Co., BG Products Inc. and Lubrication Engineers.

WSU's Fairmount Center for Science and Mathematics Education coordinates the competition and provides training to coaches each fall.