N.C. Science Olympiad at UNC Asheville could fall to budget axe

Jason Sandford

Jason Sandford is a reporter, writer, blogger and photographer interested in all things Asheville.

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From Barbara Blake of the Asheville Citizen-Times:

Some 400 students from across Western North Carolina spent their Saturday setting off bottle rockets, analyzing the viscosity of pancake batter, building towers and launching minihelicopters during the regional N.C. Science Olympiad at UNC Asheville.

Most of those students, who have spent months honing their competition skills for the Asheville regional tournament, were not aware that state funding for the Olympiad has been axed in Gov. Bev Perdue’s budget proposal. With the elimination of $150,000 from the state — which is half of the Olympiad’s annual operating budget — it is possible that the science competition that began in 1974 will cease to exist.