Sandy Point High wins National Science Olympiad!
Washington Archibald Runner-Up…
By Ryan Haas
Reporter-SKNVibes.com
BASSETERRE, ST. Kitts - SANDY Point High School walked away with the champion’s title of the first ever St. Kitts National Science Olympiad held at Basseterre High School on Friday, May 2.
The Olympiad, sponsored by the SKN National Commission for the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organisation (UNESCO), was graced with the presence of Antonio Maynard, Secretary-General for the St. Kitts-Nevis National Commission for UNESCO, who said it was “an important event to help keep young bright students informed about science and technology”.
Maynard further stated that one of UNESCO’s main goals in sponsoring the Olympiad was to “encourage” the natural scientific talents of students in St. Kitts, as “they will be the ones that will have to come up with solutions to issues facing the Caribbean, such as climate change”.
Students from all six of St. Kitts’ secondary schools met the challenge head on, as they were evaluated in the fields of biology, chemistry and physics.
Gary Morain, mathematics/science instructor at Basseterre High School and one of the lead organisers of the event, said that the general sciences were being highlighted to standardise the competition and to raise the students’ awareness of things like “laboratory procedure, organisation, manipulation of materials and analysis of data. 
“We also hope that this competition will show how science and technology can help us here in the Caribbean to become more efficient, effective and to develop some of our own products,” he added.
The competition proved to be very close with almost every school placing in one of the three fields, but Sandy Point ultimately proved victorious by winning the physics competition and placing third in the chemistry category. Washington Archibald High School was Runner-Up for the day.
Morain stressed that even though the competition was important, the most vital goal for the day was to get students excited about science and technology. “Hopefully the sponsors will like what they saw and we will be able to have this event every year…because competitions like these will help to keep science and technology in whatever is going on.”
The mathematics instructor also said he could not give enough thanks to the teachers who volunteered to help, the organising committee and the Ministry of Education for making the event possible.
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