Tennessee American Water announced its eighth annual sponsorship of the Elementary Science Olympiad hosted by Chattanooga State Technical Community College on Friday. Tennessee American Water has been working at bringing awareness to the importance of STEM education. The event has grown from 300 student participants in 2007 to over 600 participants last year.
“We believe math and science education is such a vital part of everyday life and especially in the water utility industry,” said Kevin Rogers, operations manager for Tennessee American Water. He said, “The Tennessee American Water team is composed of engineers, chemists, environmental specialists and many other industry experts that cannot work without a strong base in math and science education.”
This event will offer area third, fourth and fifth grade students in Hamilton County an opportunity to learn math and science by using hands-on fun experiments such as “Pond Study” and “Save Our Earth.” “Pond Study” provides pond samples and/or pictures and they are asked to identify the specimen and also build a food chain using three of the identified specimens. The “Save Our Earth” experiment helps them to become aware of issues that can harm the environment.
The Olympiad will be held from 8:30-11:30 a.m. with lunch and awards following in the gymnasium.